KINGSBURG, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – A concerned Kingsburg resident sent YourCentralValley.com a video showing a garbage truck near their home apparently mixing the recycling, garden waste, and general waste together in the same truck.
“We all do our part to seperate items according to bins – just to have it all combined again and hauled off,” the concerned resident wrote in an email.
The resident, who did not wish to be named, sent a video showing the collection in action. The video shows a Pena’s Disposal Service vehicle in Kingsburg picking up garbage and dumping all three colored waste carts into the same truck – mixing the pre-sorted trash, green waste, and recyclables all together.
In a statement to YourCentralValley.com, Pena’s Disposal Inc. says there are a couple of reasons why all three containers may have been loaded into the same truck – most often when they are short drivers or when a truck breaks down and they need to have all the routes completed.
“We try to avoid delays of service and this helps us make sure residents get service on their service day,” said Adrian Meza of Pena’s Disposal Inc. “This may also happen when we are working on building route density especially right now when we are creating new routes to be in compliance with the new SB 1383 requirements.”
According to Pena’s Disposal Inc., mix materials are taken to a Material Recovery Facility and processed through a sorting line and are not sent to the landfill directly. The company adds that they ask “all residents to use their carts appropriately.”
