About 80,000 Angelenos were able to take advantage of the city’s new solid waste, recycling and food recovery program, dubbed recycLA July 1 as city officials are helping residents transition from a “currently unregulated system to one that is dependable and sustainable,” they said. Since this is a mass transitioning of resources, they said, they want to be sure to be available to answer any questions or address any concerns that residents may have.
The new system divides the city into 11 zones that will be served exclusively by a single service provider, meaning fewer trucks congesting neighborhoods and less wear and tear on streets, officials explained.
What this means for residents as far as cost
recycLA provides many new benefits and services, including, fundamentally, the opportunity to recycle. It also ensures 24/7 customer support, annual bin cleaning, graffiti removal, clean fuel trucks, and predictable rates.
Until now, the commercial and large multifamily waste collection system in the city has not guaranteed equitable and transparent rates. Because the system has not been regulated, there were no protections in place to standardize and stabilize rates by all various private companies collecting trash throughout the City. Some customers have been paying four times what other customers in the same neighborhood pay. This program will ensure that rates are predictable, equitable and transparent.
Under the new program, however, customers will have the ability to manage how much they pay. The aim of the program is to reduce waste and facilitate recycling — as customers generate less solid waste, reduce their solid waste service and increase their recycling, the more they can lower their own rates.
Here’s how it will work: as they transition into the new system, each account holder will receive a visit from their new service provider to learn about the new program and receive a waste assessment to determine their current usage, solid waste and recycling bin needs, and the necessary frequency of collection services. Blue bins are included in the standard solid waste service. This serves as incentive to recycle more and generate less trash, as their rate is determined based on their solid waste service.
For small businesses, large corporations, renters and environmental advocates alike, the expansion of recycling opportunities and the establishment of customer service expectations and protections will benefit us all.
How will fewer garbage trucks affect residents
Under the current system, there may be multiple private waste haulers servicing adjacent businesses or multifamily complexes throughout the City. Under new system, each of the exclusive 11 service zones will be awarded to a franchise waste hauler that will service all business and large multifamily customers in that zone. The transition will streamline the collection process and make waste collection more efficient, because each collection zone will have trucks from only one franchise waste hauler. This will make truck routes more efficient and reduce the number of vehicles on city streets.
The program will also require newer, clean fuel vehicles to reduce toxic air emissions. Collection vehicles under recycLA must be clean fueled, using CNG or liquefied natural gas, and must be less than 8 years old at the start of the contract and less than 10 years old through the duration of the first term of the contract.
Has the community been receptive so far?
Many community members are excited to receive the benefits of the recycLA program, including finally having recycling at every residential and commercial property. However, this is a change and as such comes with questions and concerns. The questions typically center around when and how will recycLA be implemented, how the will the City ensure customer service standard. The concerns are typically related to cost as discussed above.
LASAN has worked with the new Service Providers to prepare a detailed “roll out/customer transition phase” schedule for the transition of customers into the new System. Franchise Zones has been broken down geographically into Transition Areas. The transition areas and detailed schedule can be found online at recycLA.com. LASAN Customer Care Center is the first point of contact from all customer inquiries. As such the City will be monitor and enforce the strict customer service standards required contractually.
- Call 311 or 213-473-3231 for service requests.
- Call LA Sanitation’s 24-hour/ 7 days a week Customer Care Center at 1-800-773-2489
- File service requests for illegal dumping, bulky items and more on the go by downloading the MyLA311 app by visiting Google Play or Apple App Store.
