Torrance Cleaning Up the Streets

Illegal dumping, city officials say, has been an ongoing problem in Torrance for sometime. The breaking point came last year, when the city discovered a serial illegal dumper who was renovating houses and leaving the mess in piles around town.

The city responded by starting the year-long pilot program, hiring Electronic Waste Services — a recycling and trash-collection company — to patrol illegal dumping hot spots and respond to calls from residents. The deal, meant to complement the efforts of the Torrance Sanitation Department, cost the city an initial $80,000 and will cost another $15,000 to expand the program until June.

“It is important,” said Fran Fulton, the city’s economic development manager, “that we have a clean, safe, well-maintained city.”

The city has been discussing various methods to enforce a tidy neighborhood with various fine schemes to ensure compliance and penalizing repeat offenders.