Trash talk isn’t going away

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The city of Baldwin Park is rallying behind efforts to stop a trash-sorting facility from being built on the border of Irwindale and Baldwin Park.

The City Council unanimously adopted a resolution Wednesday night opposing the project, created an ad hoc committee to track the project’s progress, and directed staff to look at the city’s options against the project.

Athens Services wants to build a material recovery facility on a 17-acre site across from the Santa Fe Dam at Live Oak Avenue and Arrow Highway in Irwindale.

“We don’t need what potentially could be known as a cesspool right next to the residents of Baldwin Park,” Mayor Manuel Lozano said at yesterday’s meeting. “Yes, obviously they have indicated they have this filtration system that’s state of the art —- my foot … that air has to be let out somewhere.”

Councilwoman Marlen Garcia told me today she hopes Irwindale will see the potential risks to Baldwin Park residents and reconsider the location of the facility. She said Irwindale has had this site in mind for five years, but Baldwin Park just found out about it.

“It’s disheartening to see this, they are our neighbors,” she said.

Athens and Irwindale officials contest the potential risks, and say if any impacts are found, they will be addressed in an environmental impact report. But, they argue, the new state-of-the-art facilities used to sort trash from recyclables are safe — even for the employees working on the inside.

More on the issue in tomorrow’s paper.