L.A. to Consider Exporting Its Trash to Orange County

If Los Angeles County gets its way, it could soon be sending a new export south to Orange County: Trash.

On Tuesday, Los Angeles County supervisors unanimously supported a plan to allow county officials to begin negotiating with their Orange County counterparts in order to get a long-term deal to ship Los Angeles garbage south of the county line.

One benefit would be to reduce the need for dumps in Los Angeles County--especially the controversial Elsmere Canyon Landfill near Santa Clarita.

In the past, Los Angeles County has sent southward prospective suburbanites seeking a less hectic lifestyle, as well as tourists to Disneyland.

This time though--due to the need for money brought on by last year’s bankruptcy--Orange County is in the position of seeking other people’s garbage.

And while Orange County officials say they are certainly willing to talk trash, they are a little chagrined.

“It’s ironic,” acknowledged Sue Gordon, manager of government and community relations for Orange County’s Integrated Waste Management Department. “We didn’t think we’d be doing this type of thing. But unusual circumstances require unusual actions.”

The potential for money however, is no laughing matter: Charging neighboring counties to use its landfills and other suggestions could earn Orange County $15 million each year for the next 20 years, Gordon said.

Reducing the need for new dumps would take political pressure off the Los Angeles County supervisors, whose trash disposal needs conflict with voters’ opposition to having landfills in their neighborhoods.

“The key factors are the length of the agreement, and how much on a daily basis they can take,” said Dave Vanatta, an aide to Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who proposed studying the Orange County option.

“I have a feeling it won’t be the end of Elsmere, but the point is that we need to be more aggressive to search out alternatives.”