Civil Grand Jury takes on pilfering...and someone (Watch Dog) actually read it...

A few weeks back, Watch Dog posted about a San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury report related to garbage ( recycling, actually). This Civil Grand Jury report should not be confused with the Civil Grand Jury’s upcoming report about the awarding of the $700+ million contract -- which promises to be far more exciting...but the recent one was ok.

There seems to be a problem (or perceived problem) in County neighborhoods of scavengers poaching stuff from recycling bins to make money. Because no one, except maybe this guy and these guys, read the report -- Watch Dog took the liberty of reading it and filling you in on the details, as promised...

The report was launched in response incidents in Menlo Park where a neighbor complained to the City Council...then another neighbor wrote on a message board...and pretty soon, the Civil Grand Jury deemed that there was a large-scale issue on its hands and took action by launching a "pilfering investigation."

Civil Grand Jury Findings...
The Civil Grand Jury actually provided a pretty good picture of how garbage and recycling work in San Mateo County. We learned some new information about how garbage runs here -- perhaps it is new to you too:

• The current garbage company, Allied Waste, picks up recycling at the curb and sells the collected recyclable materials. However, Allied Waste doesn't get the revenue generated from the recycling. Instead, the money actually goes back to the agency overseeing the garbage contracts -- the South Bayside Waste Management Agency (SBWMA). From the SBWMA, the recycling revenue is distributed to the member agencies (cities, the County, etc.) who often use the revenue to off-set rate increases. This apparently differs from Pacifica's relationship with its garbage company that actually keeps the revenue from recycling. (Pacifica is also considering dumping its garbage company.)
• Over the past four years, Allied Waste claims that the total number of recyclables have gone down from curbside pick-up while at the same time the money that scavengers can get for recycling 'commodities' have skyrocketed. (Apparently, the sky-high commodity prices have recently dropped like Madoff's portfolio.)
• Pilferers (or anyone else who has tons of beer cans in their garage) can bring recyclable materials to a 'buy-back' center and get paid for their recyclables. It is relatively simple -- if not a little smelly and sticky.
  
• To help curb pilfering, a new State Law went into effect last week (1/1/09) whereby anyone who brings stuff to buy-back centers needs to show identification if they are looking to sell more than $50 worth of stuff. Also, those crisp bills that buy-back centers used to hand out are now going to be pesky checks.
  
• 'Single-stream' recycling is going into effect in much of the County in 2011 which may make pilfering more difficult. Single-stream recycling is when everything that is recyclable gets put into one bin -- as opposed to the two-bin system now.

The bottom line from the Grand Jury's findings: There is lots of money in recycling. People like money and pilfer other folk's bins to get to the recycling/money. Pilfered recycling/money generally goes to reducing our garbage rates.

Civil Grand Jury vs. Watch Dog San Mateo -- More Questions...
To wrap up the Civil Grand Jury report, these good folks put forward some conclusions. Unfortunately, these conclusions lead to more questions. Fortunately, Watch Dog loves asking questions. So, here are the Civil Grand Jury’s conclusions, followed by (much more interesting) Watch Dog Questions:

Civil Grand Jury Conclusion: Pilfering can cause increased garbage rates because cities receiving less revenue from recycling means cities cannot offset the actual garbage costs.

Watch Dog Question: Does this mean that the rates we pay now are not covering the cost of the services we get? Is the next garbage company due to take over in 2011 going to receive the revenues from recycling? If so, won't our rates go up even more than what has already been promised?

Civil Grand Jury Conclusion: Pilfering will increase as commodity prices rise.

Watch Dog Question: Duh, but doesn't this mean that pilferers will do even more to get their hands on the recyclables? If yes, won't that screw up the next conclusion?

Civil Grand Jury Conclusion: Single stream is becoming more common, including in our community, which will make pilfering more difficult.

Watch Dog Question: Won't pilferers want these recyclables/money enough to wade through the other stuff -- especially if the commodity prices rise -- as the Civil Grand Jury says they will? And what has been the experience of Cities with single-stream already? (Partial answer here.)

Civil Grand Jury Conclusion: SBWMA should take a leadership role in dealing with this and they currently have not. Likewise, Allied Waste doesn't currently take an active role in dealing with pilfering because they don't have a financial stake in it.

Watch Dog Question: Same as before: If the garbage company has a financial stake in the recycling revenues -- and those revenues won't help underwrite the cost of the services we get now -- won't our rates go up even more?

Civil Grand Jury Conclusion: The new garbage contract should put onus on collection companies to help curb pilfering.

Watch Dog Question: Does this mean that the next garbage company is going to be policing our neighborhoods? Is that what we want them to do? Won't that add even more cost to our garbage service?

Civil Grand Jury Conclusion: Pilfering is not a public-safety threat but it does concern residents.

Watch Dog Question: If this is not a public-safety threat, why is the Grand Jury recommending that new ordinances be put in place that would be enforced by police? Aren't our police departments already stretched too thin? What if neighbors call all the time about pilfering -- won't that put a burden on the police to respond to "non-public safety"-related calls?

To deal with this issue...

the Civil Grand Jury Proposes...(drum roll please)...

• The Civil Grand Jury recommends that a bunch of public agencies do a bunch of work about this issue.
  
• The County should educate residents about the relationship about pilfering and rates.
• The County should set the stage for new ordinances that allow police to issue citations that costs folks lots of money if they pilfer.
  
• The DA should be able to do something about pilfering.
  
• Collection companies should communicate with customers that pilfering is illegal and pilfering should be reported to the police.
  

Overall, the report provided some interesting information. However, it lacked any real solutions to the perceived pilfering problem.

In Watch Dog's view, there is very little that government agencies, police departments, or garbage companies can do to keep people from pilfering recycling if the financial reward is great enough ($) -- especially in these economic times.

What have we learned about how to curb pilfering? Not much...

What have we learned about the Civil Grand Jury? We know that they understand the local garbage industry...which should worry some folks and make some folks happy as the Civil Grand Jury starts asking tough questions about the new garbage contract...