The solid waste utility services approximately 29,500 single and multi-family homes throughout the City of Torrance, collecting residential trash, recycling, and organic/green waste. Solid waste is picked up weekly throughout the City, and the utility pays to dispose of the refuse at a landfill outside of City limits. The City provides three containers to its single-family customers: household waste, recyclables, and organic/green waste. Typical containers are 96-gallons with a few 64-gallon household waste containers. To minimize household waste that goes to the landfill, the City provides organic/green waste and recyclables containers and does not charge for that service. Raftelis conducted a cost-of-service analysis to determine the costs of additional containers and alley service which included larger bins. The City also needed to recover the additional costs of organics collection under SB 1383. Raftelis developed a financial plan to ensure adequate reserves over the five-year planning period and developed equitable rates for the City’s customers. Raftelis provided the financial planning and rates model to the City to assist in future financial planning.
