When Los Angeles imposed a new trash-collection program last summer, supporters said the public would benefit from reduced landfill waste and greenhouse gas emissions and improved worker safety. Six months later, RecycLA has clearly benefitted the green and labor special interests that backed it, but for much of L.A. the experiment has been a dumpster fire.
Under the new recycling regime, the city gives a handful of haulers contracts granting exclusive waste-removal rights within parts of Los Angeles. These 10-year deals are worth a total of $3.5 billion, and the only haulers who could bid were unionized or party to a labor peace agreement.
. . . Business owners and residents have seen their trash bills skyrocket. Eric Feingold operates five assisted-living facilities that cater to low-income senior citizens, and his trash-collection bill used to be less than $500 a month. Now it’s around $1,500. Mr. Feingold says he can’t pass along the cost to residents because many live on a fixed income of $32 per day. The waste-collection bills have forced the facility owners to consider admitting fewer poor residents, but “if I get rid of them, they’re going to become homeless,” Mr. Feingold says.
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