Union City Institutes Recycling Center Rules

By Chris De Benedetti, STAFF WRITER

UNION CITY — City officials have established a new public process to review incoming proposals for recycling plants — a response to a stink that arose over a glass-recycling plant last year.

The controversial plant, a branch of Recycle America Alliance, closed down in the fall and moved to Hayward.

But officials in Union City, apparently spurred by the experience, are making it more difficult for new plants to move into town without significant public input about health and safety issues.

Approved by the City Council on Nov. 8, Union City’s new ordinance reclassifies enclosed recycling facilities from a permitted use to a conditionally permitted use in the city’s zoning ordinance.

What might sound like a mere technicality is actually a significant change, said Mark Leonard, Union City’s director of economic and community development. The move establishes a process for businesses and the community to review and weigh in on recycling plant applications, Leonard said.

“Before this, the public didn’thave a right to comment on proposed recycling problems,” he said.

Councilman Richard Valle, who is a candidate for county supervisor, recused himself during the discussion and vote on the issue to avoid a potential conflict of interest stemming from his employment at Tri-CED Community Recycling in Union City.

Valle directs Tri-CED, which operates curbside recycling services in Union City and Hayward. His business also was a neighbor to the Recycle America Alliance plant before it moved to south Hayward.

The new Union City regulations will take effect one day before the expiration Saturday of an “urgency ordinance” enacted Oct. 11 by council members.

The 45-day ordinance created a temporary ban on approving permits for new recycling facilities in Union City. On Nov. 22, City Council members extended the ban’s lifespan another 15 days to ensure it would expire after the new review process begins Friday.

While Union City contains only a handful of recycling companies, the moratorium became necessary because officials discovered there was no formal process in place to administer recurring community complaints, Leonard said.

“Without a process to review those impacts, we can’t place conditions on a business so that it’s operated in a clean way,” Leonard said.

Hayward City Manager Jesus Armas said there are no plans at this time to enact a similar ordinance in Hayward.

Recycle America Alliance, a subsidiary of Houston-based Waste Management Inc., won approval from Hayward City Hall to open the glass-recycling plant on Hayman Street this year after the plant was effectively driven out of Union City amid complaints that included foul smells and pests.

Armas said plant operators informed the city that their new plant, located in an industrial area of Hayward, would not cause the problems that Union City officials claim arose in their city.

Staff writer Matt O’Brien contributed to this report.