Errol Segal

When it comes to airline miles, the rule is pretty clear: Use 'em or lose 'em. But what if you can't travel because of circumstances beyond your control? "What if you're in the hospital in a coma?" asked Los Angeles resident Errol Segal. "What if you're a soldier in Iraq? You couldn't use your miles in those situations. " Segal, 65, likens his plight to the above examples. But in fact it's a bit different. He had been head of an L.A. scrap metal company. In 2006, Segal pleaded guilty to recycling fraud and was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison.

Errol Segal of L.A. lost the 346,000 miles he had earned on United Airlines because of account inactivity while he was serving time for fraud. If he'd only contacted the airline earlier, he might still have them. When it comes to airline miles, the rule is pretty clear: Use 'em or lose 'em. But what if you can't travel because of circumstances beyond your control? "What if you're in the hospital in a coma?" asked Los Angeles resident Errol Segal. "What if you're a soldier in Iraq?

I am standing by a piece of machinery that crushes aluminum cans and I am seriously discussing the beneficial nature of trash with a grown man in a Woodsy Owl T-shirt when it occurs to me what I'm doing. I say to myself, wait. You have had 30 years of big-city reporting. You have profiled some of the great leaders of your generation. You have personally eaten pepperoni pizza with Michael J. Fox.

A 10-foot chain-link fence, topped by triple scrolls of razor wire, surrounds Errol Segal's property in South Los Angeles. The grounds have intrusion alarm systems, and the windows are covered with steel bars--the heavy, cylindrical kind used in prisons. To get to Segal's office, you must pass through a wire-mesh gate and two steel doors, each of which must be unlocked by remote control after you have satisfied someone via microphone that you have legitimate business inside.

A 10-foot chain-link fence, topped by triple scrolls of razor wire, surrounds Errol Segal's property in South Los Angeles. The grounds have intrusion alarm systems, and the windows are covered with steel bars--the heavy, cylindrical kind used in prisons. To get to Segal's office, you must pass through a wire-mesh gate and two steel doors, each of which must be unlocked by remote control after you have satisfied someone via microphone that you have legitimate business inside.

Grimy TV dinner trays. Sticky soda cans. Musty newspaper stacks and metal scraps. The products dumped at an Eastside recycling facility are looking really good for children at a local organization that is using the trash as cash in a new fund-raising program. Lt. Gov. Gray Davis joined about 60 community members to launch the "Recycling Hope" project at the Active Recycling Co. on Wednesday.

Eight people associated with a Los Angeles recycling company were arrested Wednesday on charges that they bilked the state out of more than $3 million in bottle and can refunds. Errol Segal, 60, of Encino, owner of Active Recycling, and eight others are charged with setting up two schemes to defraud the state Department of Conservation's recycling program. One of the defendants was already in custody on unrelated charges.

Woodsy Owl, the fictional bird urging people to "Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute," was unceremoniously trashed Tuesday amid charges that his smiling face had given a local recycling company an unfair edge on competitors. For the past few weeks, Woodsy has been pushing the Los Angeles recycling program from the sides of 450 city trash trucks on special billboards. But at the same time, his message also promoted the commercial concern, Active Neighborhood Recycling Centers.

Like others in the recycling industry, Errol Segal of Los Angeles-based Active Recycling Co. sees non-recycled aluminum cans as a rich vein of ore there for the mining. And, like others in the industry, he sees the so-called reverse vending machine as a piece of sophisticated mining equipment to tap the 35% to 45% of aluminum cans that aren't recycled. However, the machines haven't lived up to the shiny promises of two years ago, when the California Grocers Assn.

One of California's largest recyclers is suing state officials, alleging that they are putting him out of business with a fraud investigation. Errol Segal, owner of Los Angeles-based Active Recycling Co., says in two lawsuits that the state Department of Conservation has harassed him for more than 10 years with audits, inspections and accusations but has never proved any serious charges against him.

I am standing by a piece of machinery that crushes aluminum cans and I am seriously discussing the beneficial nature of trash with a grown man in a Woodsy Owl T-shirt when it occurs to me what I'm doing. I say to myself, wait. You have had 30 years of big-city reporting. You have profiled some of the great leaders of your generation. You have personally eaten pepperoni pizza with Michael J. Fox.

The man who picked up City Councilwoman Joy Picus' trash Friday morning on a quiet street in Woodland Hills looked new at the job. He held the containers awkwardly, at arm's length. And, in a snappy sports coat, dress shoes and a tie, he wasn't exactly dressed for the job, either.