Coast Waste Management

Arie de Jong wanted to thank his former employees for their dedication during the 20 years he owned San Marcos-based Coast Waste Management Inc. So he decided to give out bonuses--big bonuses. The company's 170 employees will receive gifts of $3,000 to $15,000 each--$1 million total--from de Jong during the company picnic Saturday. Coast Waste was acquired May 30 by Houston-based USA Waste. De Jong refused to say how much USA Waste paid for his company.

Arie de Jong wanted to thank his former employees for their dedication during the 20 years he owned San Marcos-based Coast Waste Management Inc. So he decided to give out bonuses--big bonuses. The company's 170 employees will receive gifts of $3,000 to $15,000 each--$1 million total--from de Jong during the company picnic Saturday. Coast Waste was acquired May 30 by Houston-based USA Waste. De Jong refused to say how much USA Waste paid for his company.

The county Planning Commission on Friday rejected plans to build a privately owned landfill in Gregory Canyon. William Schwartz, attorney for Waste Management Inc., said the firm will probably appeal the commission's decision to the County Board of Supervisors.

The county Planning Commission on Friday rejected plans to build a privately owned landfill in Gregory Canyon. William Schwartz, attorney for Waste Management Inc., said the firm will probably appeal the commission's decision to the County Board of Supervisors.

A group representing residents near the Channel Islands Harbor has filed a lawsuit against the Ventura Regional Sanitation District, claiming the district plans to spend up to $27 million on a recycling center that may not be needed. The suit was filed last week by the Channel Islands Beach Community Service District, a public agency that provides water, sewer and trash collection services for 8,500 residents in the Channel Islands beach and harbor area.

To many North County residents, Operation Desert Storm meant the absence of a loved one as thousands of Marines were deployed from Camp Pendleton. To 7,000 Riverside County hogs, it meant going on a diet. In peacetime, the hogs at Standard Feeding Inc. near Ontario had depended on a daily ration of Camp Pendleton garbage. But when the Marines shipped out, their trash went with them.

It started with a couple of environmentally oriented UC San Diego graduates searching for meaning in post-college life. The year was 1983 and the idea they lit upon was this: Why not ask people to pile their cans, bottles and newspapers on the curb and then drive around in a truck and pick them up? The band of Solana Beach-based graduates formed a nonprofit organization and put together a board of directors. They pooled pocket change to print up literature announcing the program's debut.

"My steel cans have become part of my regular dishes," recycling specialist Pam Cortelyou confided when I called her county office to ask about can recycling in North County. Although not everyone approaches the effort as dutifully, attitudes about recycling the cans that package fruits, vegetables, tuna, nuts, candies, juices et al are changing.

The garbage has hit the fan as far as relations between the cities of San Marcos and Carlsbad go. This is more than just some little political brouhaha; San Marcos feels it has been blind-sided by Carlsbad and is looking to get even. And in the end, bizarre as it sounds, Carlsbad residents may see their trash collection rates skyrocket from $6.50 a month to $50 a month. At issue, in a general sense, is which roads can be used by large, three-axle trucks through the City of Carlsbad.

Assemblyman Steve Peace (D-Rancho San Diego) on Monday breathed life into a controversial bill requiring Indian tribes to abide by strict state regulations when planning garbage dumps on their sovereign lands.

Although half of North County's residents think they'll be living at the same address five years from now, 22% anticipate that by then they'll have moved elsewhere in the same community or in North County. For those who've lived in North County two years or less, 64% expect they'll be moving. --The Times Poll One of the very first steps people take in establishing themselves in a community is hooking up to the utility systems.

Mark Beckett always cared about the environment, even though he and his family filled up trash cans at about the same rate as other folks. They recycled newspapers, but not much else. When Solana Recyclers began curbside collection in their neighborhood, though, the Becketts began acting in earnest. In the last year, they have cut their landfill trash output in half.