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San Bernardino Struggles to Dump Waste

Posted on: Friday, 9 September 2005, 21:00 CDT

Sep. 9--SAN BERNARDINO -- The city can't keep up with its trash pickup.

Officials are scrambling to train more drivers, ever since the county barred the city from the Colton Landfill.

While the city tries to come up with a solution, it is asking residents to be patient and leave their cans curbside for another day if they are not picked up.

That's not good enough for some.

"I'm still paying taxes. I'm still paying for refuse. I don't care where they have to dump it," said Tracy House, looking down her street of full green garbage bins on a recent afternoon.

City trucks have to travel an extra half-hour each way to drop off trash, recyclables and green waste at the Mid-Valley Landfill in Rialto.

With each truck making two drop-offs each day, the longer commute adds an extra two hours per day per crew, leaving workers hard-pressed to complete their routes.

It's unclear how much the city has had to spend since the change, which went into effect July 11. By the end of the month, though, the city had already spent $98,000 more than it would have in overtime, fuel and added people, said Ken Fischer, public services director.

"We're no longer able to complete our routes," he said. "It's just physically impossible to do it."

On Tuesday, the City Council discussed in closed session the possibility of suing the county over the closure, though officials declined to provide details.

Not everyone sees it as a crisis.

"They just sit out there a couple of days. I figure everyone is on vacation," said Leopold Cichocki. "I'd rather see them sweep up the streets better."

Still, many city officials are angry at getting only 30 days' notice to prepare for the change.

They are also irked that Colton and Grand Terrace can still use the nearby landfill.

"The Board of Supes needs to step up," said Councilwoman Wendy McCammack. "Maybe it's a potential lack of vision. Maybe it's because they're busy fighting each other. They should've given us long before a month's notice."

The supervisors never voted to restrict access to Colton Landfill. It was a staff decision, said Peter Wulfman, division manager of county Solid Waste Management.

"The Colton Landfill is nearing the end of its useful life," he said.

County officials are hoping to expand the landfill, though they haven't begun the lengthy permitting process and still need to figure out how to pay for it.

The expanded landfill would still be closed to everyone but Colton and Grand Terrace except when it becomes too windy at Mid-Valley Landfill and it is closed.

Colton and Grand Terrace can still deliver trash because they don't dump as much as San Bernardino does, Wulfman said. He also explained: "They're the two cities adjacent to the landfill."

He met with city refuse workers in April to let them know the landfill restriction was in the pipeline; the county sent out written notification a month before the change.

The city is training five new workers. Until then it takes five days to do what it once did in four - and a no solution is coming soon.

Fischer said he hopes to have the answers by the end of the year.

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To see more of the San Bernardino County Sun, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sbsun.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, San Bernardino County Sun, Calif.

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Source: San Bernardino County Sun

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