Scavenging

San Fernando police officers are getting tough on scavengers caught stealing recyclable materials from curbside bins for profit. "We've seen a big increase in complaints about scavengers from the community in the last few months," Chief Dominick Rivetti said. "It appears there are some people getting into a fairly large business of scavenging through the rubbish and the bins to make money. And there are also homeless people pushing carts who are trying to eke out a living."

Los Angeles is putting some teeth in an anti-scavenging ordinance that makes it illegal to steal bottles, cans and other items from the city's curbside recycling bins. The City Council voted Wednesday to spend $64,000 to step up enforcement of the city's anti-scavenging ordinance, earmarking $15,000 for a police crackdown in the west San Fernando Valley in Reseda and setting aside $49,000 for a possible expansion of the police patrols citywide.

Irvine is the only city in Orange County to win one of the state's first anti-scavenging grants, which will be used to hire a part-time employee to patrol the streets in search of garbage thieves. Irvine is one of 11 California cities selected by the state Department of Conservation for the grants, which will pay for projects ranging from scavenger patrols to tamper-proof recycling bins.

An ordinance approved by the City Council this week imposes stiffer penalties on people caught sifting for recyclables in trash cans set out for pickup. Trash scavenging is illegal in the city, and scavengers now face a fine of up to $1,000 and six months in jail for the first offense. Under the previous ordinance, the penalty was a fine of as much as $500 for the third offense within a year. Councilman James D. Petrikin cast the only opposing vote. "The penalties now are stiff enough," he said.

The City Council has given preliminary approval to an ordinance making it illegal to rummage through trash that residents place in front of their homes. Sgt. Andy Gonis, the Police Department spokesman, said the department has received an "inordinate" number of calls over the last couple of months from residents complaining that scavengers in search of recyclable materials were prowling around outside their homes and leaving a mess.

People caught scavenging in somebody else's trash may be arrested, fined or sent to jail under a proposed ordinance the City Council tentatively approved last week. City officials said the ordinance is in response to complaints from residents and business owners who said scavengers are scattering litter on the streets after removing aluminum cans, newspapers and other recyclables from trash bins.

The city and the sanitary district will divide the $5,000 annual cost of hiring a part-time code enforcement officer to watch out for dozens of scavengers who sift through residents' trash, a growing problem in the city. Members of the sanitary district board agreed to split the cost at the district's meeting last week. They also agreed to print stickers saying "Scavenging Is Illegal" and place them on the sides of the city's trash-hauling trucks and on residents' garbage cans.

The last orange traces of the sun vanished beneath the Pacific and garbage cans of different shapes, colors and sizes lined the meandering streets. It's the night before trash collection--and time for Jay Diamond to hit the streets. As one of the city's dozen or so can and bottle scavengers, Diamond earns spare change from what some of his more fortunate neighbors discard as worthless.

The City Council on Wednesday night decided to tackle the problem of scavengers who spread household trash on streets while foraging for recyclables. The council approved the formation of a committee to study drafting an ordinance that would impose fines on inconsiderate hunters of cans, bottles and other recyclables. The council authorized Councilman Robert F.

The missing flight data recorder from a Peruvian airliner that crashed last week has been turned in by a man who scavenged it from the wreckage, a prosecutor said. Cesar Arroyo said the man, Cesar Cabello, handed it over to civil aviation investigators in exchange for a $500 reward posted by TANS Peru airlines. Hundreds of local residents had taken items from the crash site. More than $300,000 of a $760,000 cash shipment that the plane had been carrying was still missing, Arroyo said.