Accused of Favoritism, Woodsy Owl Loses Recycling Hoot

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.

City Public Works President Edward Avila said the signs will be removed because of the charges and replaced by new billboards prepared by the city.

City Council Debate

Avila’s comments came immediately after the Los Angeles City Council spent nearly an hour in sometimes heated debate over the issue.

The flap over Woodsy arose after Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky complained that Active Neighborhood Recycling Centers, after contacting Mayor Tom Bradley’s office, was allowed to bypass usual competitive bidding steps to get its billboards on the garbage trucks. He said the owner of a recycling company in his district had complained after seeing one of the signs.

The Los Angeles Municipal Code prohibits commercial messages on city cars, but there is no stated prohibition against such advertising on trucks. But Senior Assistant City Atty. George Buchanan said if Active Neighborhood Recycling Centers is allowed to display the billboards on city trucks, it could open the way for all sorts of advertisers.

“I don’t know how this kind of thing could be allowed to go on just because (Bradley’s) staff person calls up and makes this happen,” said Yaroslavsky, an expected mayoral candidate next year. “This is bad public policy.”

The red, yellow and black billboards feature Woodsy carrying a box of recyclables with the message, “Start Recycling.” Below the drawing is a statement that the program is “endorsed” by Active Neighborhood Recycling Centers, the firm’s telephone number and the name of the Public Works Department.

Avila said the department had been under “tremendous pressure” to increase recycling in the city and viewed Woodsy--”a nationally recognized symbol”-- of recycling as a way to convey that message. Errol Segal, head of Active Neighborhood Recycling Centers, holds the local U.S. Forest Service license for the Woodsy trademark.

Avila added, however, that the concerns expressed by Yaroslavsky and others are “legitimate” and “as far as I’m concerned, the signs are history.”

Michael Miller, assistant Sanitation Bureau director, said Segal had agreed that anyone who called the Active Neighborhood Recycling Centers phone number would be directed to a toll-free number or the Yellow Pages if an Active center was inconvenient. Miller added, however, that recent phone calls made by the department showed that Active had not been complying with the agreement.

Segal expressed dismay at the development, adding that he had paid $8,000 for the signs. He said that as far as he knew, callers were being provided the correct information.