A new City website has the answers for residents and businesses who have questions about how to handle their trash.
The website, smgov.net/swm, contains information on City services and programs available to both residential and business customers. Information is included on residential and business refuse and recycling, the recycling center, the solid waste transfer station, construction and demolition waste, waste reduction tips and street sweeping and pressure washing.
In an interview with the Mirror, Andrew Basmajian, the City’s Environmental Outreach Coordinator, stated the new website is “integral to solid waste management” in the City and critical to the City’s “customer service mission.” He then added that the site “targets all the different services we have,” is “very comprehensive and is easy to navigate.”
Basmajian noted that the “majority of waste comes from the City’s business sectors” and the City “has hundreds of viable recycling options for business which the City of Los Angeles doesn’t have,” and many are described on the website. These recycling options are offered free only to businesses that are “Santa Monica waste hauling customers.”
Currently, there is a lot of business recycling at the Pier and the Third Street Promenade. The City also offers options for recycling for both public and private schools.
According to Basmajian, there is a “big problem with the City’s alleys being cluttered” with oversized items like sofas that don’t fit into trash bins. The website discusses the appropriate steps to deal with these items (under a link titled “Specialty and Bulky Item Collection Services”). It also describes how unwanted electronic devices such as computer monitors should be dealt with.
The website also highlights the broad spectrum of residents’ services, including the blue bins used for multi-family building recycling. Basmajian pointed out that many in the community think the bins can only be used by the residents of the building they are near. City policy actually permits the bins to be used by all the residents who live in the vicinity of where the bin is located.
Another important service is the City transfer station, which can be useful for those who want to get rid of items after cleaning out their garage. The site lists items that are acceptable, including tires, yard waste and scrap metal. Even an old metal tool shed can be brought to the transfer station.
The site also includes a link called “Environmental Links” that connects to the City’s Environmental Programs Division website which, according to Basmajian, is a “one-stop resource for all environmental services for Santa Monica.”
