A Look at What’s Next for RecycLA

Back in June, two rental property owners filed a class action lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles over RecycLA, the city’s franchised waste and recycling collection program. The owners claimed that the program, which was implemented last year, violates a state law that prohibits the imposition of taxes that have not been approved by voters. And shortly after the program was implemented, customers began submitting complaints about an increase in prices, uncollected trash and unreturned phone calls.

So, what’s next for RecycLA? According to a Waste Dive report, RecycLA’s next experiment is optimization. Waste Dive checked in with key players in Los Angeles involved with the program to see how they're adapting and to take another look at the program as it enters a new phase.

Waste Dive has more details:

Months after calls for cancellation and an onslaught of negative coverage, RecycLA is still standing. With implementation largely complete, the franchise program has entered a new phase that may be even more complex — optimization.

RecycLA's mandated target is to divert 90% of all waste by 2025, with further aims for "zero waste" beyond that. In order to do this, its seven contracted service providers are now focused on improving recycling education amid the market collapse, maximizing food rescue, developing processing infrastructure, and reaching agreement on a unique facility certification program.

Discussions about service and pricing are also still playing out, but on a much smaller scale than often characterized. According to the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation (LASAN), service efficiency for the program's estimated 65,000 accounts is at 99.9%. Missed collections are now down from a peak of 6,158 in Dec. 2017 to 336 last month. The city is also negotiating with service providers around potential changes to a fee structure that has invoked the ire of many customers.

Read the full article here.