Councilmember Paul Koretz, 5th District, has introduced a motion calling on the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation to report to the City Council within thirty days regarding RecycLA service providers not delivering on their contractual obligations. The city’s new commercial waste-hauling program has reportedly received 28,000 complaints about missed collections and 1,500 bill inspections revealing 1,000 inaccurate bills.

Many service providers have missed collections, inaccurately charged customers, provided inadequate customer service, caused traffic disruptions from dumpsters left in the street, have questionable billing practices and have inaccurately charged customers, have provided inadequate customer service and have caused traffic disruptions from dumpsters left in the street.

“What has been happening is not the world-class commercial waste-hauling system the City Council voted for, it is not the system that LA Sanitation designed, and we must not put up with any companies who are not performing to the high standards we set,” Koretz said. “Period.”

The RecycLA commercial waste-hauling system was originally conceived as a response to the then-pending 2013 closing of the Puente Hills landfill; statewide mandates for increased citywide recycling and reducing waste-to-landfill; inadequate protections for waste workers in one of the most dangerous industries; air and climate pollution from diesel waste trucks and landfills; and, broken streets and alleyways from the ubiquitous 9-ton waste trucks that were used under the old commercial system.

“We have some haulers who are doing a great job and we want to thank and encourage them.  Our Bureau of Sanitation has also been incredibly responsive both to customers and to Council staff. I understood that there would be growing pains in implementing the new system, but it just baffles me that six months in, I’m still hearing from some of the same exact customers with the same exact problems. That is no way to run a business. When I voted for this, we were promised a world-class system. We are not going to stop demanding improvements in RecycLA until we get just that,” Koretz said. “If any of the service providers doing business with the city don’t understand or can’t live up to their contractual obligations, we are happy to show them the door and replace them with companies who will.”

In July 2017, the Bureau of Sanitation initiated the RecycLA Program that provides recycling and waste collection services for all commercial, industrial and multi-family customers in the city, a globally unprecedented transition in both size and scope. The program is designed to significantly increase recycling throughout the city in order to obtain zero waste goals and improved service levels, ensure fair pricing, worker protections, reduced traffic, reduced wear and tear on our roads and alleyways, and improve air quality.

For information, visit lacitysan.org/recycLA, or call (800)773-2489.