Citing a recent increase in the illicit collection of bottles from city recycling bins and associated environmental issues, the Hermosa Beach City Council voted Tuesday night to enhance penalties for removing recyclables.
Although Hermosa’s code already prohibits bottle collecting — or “scavenging” as the ordinance labels it — on commercial, residential and industrial properties, Tuesday’s vote clarifies the ban on city-owned property and throughout the city. It also shifts the offense from an infraction, where it stood under current code, to a misdemeanor. The change means that bottle collecting is now an arrestable offense, rather than just a citable one, although police said that violators would still be unlikely to face jail time.
As an added tool, the city was exploring locking some public receptacles, said Environmental Analyst Kristy Morris. But some of the cans, including those on the beach and along the Strand, were either county property or prohibitively expensive to modify.
The ordinance passed on a 3-2 vote, with Councilmember Stacey Armato and Mayor pro tem Justin Massey opposed. In discussing the issue, Massey raised the possibility of the ordinance having a disproportionate impact on more vulnerable members of society.
“Is it appropriate to make this a misdemeanor? Given that many of the people out there are on the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum, I’d be willing to take a chance that an infraction will deter this conduct,” Massey said.
Exactly who does most of the collecting in the city was a key dispute. During public comment, resident Tim Harrison disputed that it was homeless people driving the surge in scavenging, saying that it was driven by non-residents who came to the city, and that bottle collecting was a commercial operation rather than a survival technique.
Bottle collectors often congregate along Pier Plaza at nights, especially on weekends, grabbing the spent beer and liquor bottles of busy taverns. Residents, including former Mayor Pete Tucker, cited the accompanying damage done to asphalt by pouring out the contents of partially empty bottles. However, such operations also prevent waste from collecting or exceeding available space, collecting bottles at highly impacted disposal times.
Addressing the council on the subject, HBPD Chief Sharon Papa said she did not have definitive data immediately available, but said that the scavengers were a mix of homeless people and “organized” collectors.
Papa said the department favored the ordinance because many people collecting bottles were in fact using the activity as a cover for other criminal activity. People pose as bottle collectors, she said, in preparation for burglaries or identity theft. The ordinance, she said, gave HBPD officers probable cause to question people officers suspected of more serious crimes.
