Scavenging of Trash Outlawed

The Hawthorne City Council this week outlawed scavenging through curbside trash despite objections from Councilwoman Ginny Lambert that the measure cramps individual recycling efforts and increases the hardships of “street people.”

The council Monday voted 4 to 1, with Lambert dissenting, to enact the ban as a prelude to a projected citywide recycling program in which residents would set aside glass, plastic and aluminum cans for curbside collection.

Without such a law, the recyclable materials could be legally whisked off by anyone, City Atty. Michael Adamson said.

Lambert said the measure unfairly targets street people. She argued that it discourages what the city is trying to promote--individual recycling efforts--by thwarting “innocent people who are impoverished.”

Lambert also said Hawthorne police officers have enough to do without patrolling for scavengers.

“I see this as another piece of paper in the books that can’t be enforced,” she said.

Mayor Betty Ainsworth, who had requested that the measure be drawn up, said the ban was prompted by numerous complaints by residents that people were rummaging through their trash and scattering the remains.