Summer 2003 infoCycling

Self—haul Study improved disposal reporting accuracy for the City of Brea

The City of Brea believed many self haulers coming to the Olinda Alpha Landfill were incorrectly stating their city of origin as Brea when, in fact, their trash originated from another jurisdiction. To address the self-haul disposal reporting problems and gather data to make findings, representatives of Orange County, the city of Brea, and the county-owned and operated Olinda Alpha Landfill developed and conducted an extensive self-haul survey at the suggestion of California Integrated Waste Management Board staff.

Conducting the survey

A total of ten employees from the city, county, and landfill were on the survey team. Many hours were devoted to planning and developing the study format, conducting the interviews, compiling the data, and analyzing the results. The survey team interviewed the drivers of 83 self-haul trucks.

Spotters (members of the survey team) were stationed along the freeway, the county borders, the routes taken by the self-haul vehicles, and the Olinda Alpha Landfill to identify self-haul trucks coming from areas other than Brea.

Spotters had two-way communication capability so they could call ahead to a survey team member at the scale house with a description of each truck. When the spotters noticed self-haul trucks traveling from areas other than Brea, they informed the survey team members at the scale house. Once at the scale house, all self-haul vehicles that reported their tonnage was from Brea were pulled aside and interviewed. During the interview, many drivers recanted their original statement regarding the origin of their load.

Survey results

At the end of study, the survey team gathered enough information to show that the current reported self-haul tonnage charged to Brea was incorrect. The survey found:

• 40 percent of the waste actually came from Brea.
• 15 percent of the waste origin was not determined.
• 45 percent of the waste came from other jurisdictions.

Next steps

Based on the results of the survey, Orange County increased its enforcement efforts by developing a plan for the Olinda Alpha Landfill that is designed to discourage out-of-Brea and out-of-county self-haulers from misrepresenting the origin of their loads. The plan includes: 

• Clarifying surveying procedures.
• Posting additional signs in Spanish and English describing self-haul procedures/
• ordinance.

• Enhancing specialized training and developing resources for scale house employees regarding how to survey commercial and public self-haulers.
• Documenting reported addresses of origin.
• Considering increases in self-haul fees and/or establishing other fees to encourage self-haulers to utilize local processing facilities.

For additional information on the Olinda Alpha Landfill’s self-haul survey, please contact one of the three representatives listed below:

Pat McCarron
Maintenance Service Director
City of Brea
(714) 990-7648
patm@ci.brea.ca.us  

Sue Gordon
Manager of Environmental Programs
County of Orange Integrated Waste Management Department
(714) 834-4118
sue.gordon@iwmd.ocgov.com

Dave Lowry
Landfill Site Manager
Olinda Alpha Landfill
(714) 986-2391

If you have disposal reporting questions, please contact:

Sherrie Sala-Moore
California Integrated Waste Management Board
(916) 341-6204
sherriem@ciwmb.ca.gov

Last updated: November 01, 2007