EDITORIAL:

In all the controversy over putting a recycling center at a local Ralphs supermarket, there are a couple of players who have amazingly managed to escape much of the heat. These are the Ralphs store and the landowner, who have said a front-lot kiosk wasn’t an option on the property.

The Huntington Beach Planning Commission on Aug. 12 denied the permit for a recycling center to be built behind a Ralphs supermarket on Brookhurst Street and Adams Avenue. Yet little light was shed on exactly why a front-lot kiosk wouldn’t work.

We could understand the concern for space if this was some huge operation, but a kiosk would only take up four parking spaces. Besides this minimal sacrifice, what other reasons do Ralphs and the landowner have that prevent a front-lot kiosk? Could it be that Ralphs and the landowner do not want to put up with the same problems that are perceived by the residents?

Residents rejected a kiosk behind Ralphs because they said it would attract transients, look ugly and bring unwanted traffic into an area with an unlocked gate to the neighborhood.

To tackle residents’ (and possibly the landowner’s) concerns, these centers pride themselves on being clean and efficiently managed.

The gate to the neighborhood should be locked regardless, and all residents should be given a key.

And finally, transients will exist either way. If they use the center, at least they are participating in honest work that helps society. And, if the center is put in front, there is less of a chance that transients will loiter around it.

The centers themselves refuse to do business with recyclers who bring goods in shopping carts.

A letter from a recycling advisory company states, “Tomra (the company that would manage the proposed center) is willing to provide security on an as-needed basis.”

As an aside, residents also say the recycling program is not needed because they have curbside recycling. The kiosk, however, is designed for those who don’t have a home recycling program. It also helps people who may need a little extra cash, such as students and senior citizens on a budget.

Putting a recycling center out of sight defeats the purpose of the center. Why place something created to help the environment out of the way, where no one can find it?

It is hard to believe a front-lot center would have a significant enough negative impact on the shopping area that those concerns wouldn’t be outweighed by the benefits of recycling. By limiting the center to the back lot, the landowner and Ralphs are unfairly pointing the finger at residents who are merely concerned for the safety of their neighborhood.

If Ralphs were serious about recycling, as it claims to be, it would find a way to compromise by putting this center in the most logical place possible: the front.