Chinatown merchants charged $327.80 a day for disposing of cardboard boxes？

(SAN FRANCISCO) San Francisco Chinatown merchants have been charged as high as $327.80 a day for disposing of the cardboard boxes. Many of merchants were charged multiple days up to a total of over $1,200 a month for trash services.

Merchants are outraged for continuously receiving billing statements from Recology with unreasonable excessive fees. In fact, those cardboard boxes charged did not belong to them.

Chinatown leaders and merchants are in doubt that Recology, the waste management company authorized by the City and County of San Francisco to provide services for the residents and businesses, has been authorized to charge as high as $327.80 a day for cardboard. They requested the City Attorney's Office to look into the matter.

In recent years, cardboard boxes are easily seen dumped on the sidewalks in Chinatown. According to many Chinatown merchants, there were a number of people making a living by collecting cardboard recycling for the merchants in Chinatown for a long time in the past.

However, cardboard recycling income dropped dramatically in the last few years. People hardly made money by recycling cardboard. So they quitted. That left the Chinatown merchants without immediate help to get rid of a large amount of their cardboard boxes.

At the same time, the trash and recycle bins are not big enough for the merchants to put all of their used cardboards on a daily basis. As a result, some merchants might carry the cardboard boxes to the sidewalks and put them next to the trash cans.

Chinatown merchants have faced the challenge of paying heavy fines for cardboard imposed both by Recology and the City's Department of Public Works for years. The issues have not been new to the Chinatown community.

Lily Lo, Co-founder of BeChinatown and CEO of Northeast Community Federal Credit Union which is located in Chinatown serving the small businesses, said she has received many complaints from merchants about the excessive fines for disposing of the cardboard boxes.

“Those fines are huge and a burden for the small businesses in Chinatown. The economy has been bad for Chinatown businesses since the pandemic. While it is difficult for them to pay for the fines, merchants wonder if Recology has the authority to charge the merchants for cardboard that high," Lo said.

"From an environmental standpoint, cardboard boxes can be recycled and are needed to be recycled. Our city government has a responsibility to develop a plan to recycle large amounts of cardboard everyday from businesses and residents to make the city friendly to our environment. The City cannot just keep charging the businesses for extra cardboard. It is not a solution," Lo said.

Wind newspaper has received multiple complaints from Chinatown merchants against Recology for charging unreasonable excessive fees on cardboard. Three merchants were willing to share their billing statements and urged the City and Recology to fix the problems.

Dai Chung Wah Herb Shop

Mr. Tan, owner of Dai Chung Wah Herb Shop on Stockton Street, was shocked to see his monthly bill for trash service up to $1200.67 in August.

For many years, Tan has requested a two-day service to pick up the trash at his store on Monday and Thursday each week. His monthly rate is $315.61.

The herb shop's bill from Recology in August was $1200.67. Almost $900 was charged for "Extra Cardboard" for 4 days. The highest fine was $327.80 a day. The rest of the fines were $196.68 and $163.90 each day.

Tan had made phone calls to Recology's customer service to tell them that the cardboard boxes did not belong to him and his herb store.

A month later in September, another monthly bill came in. The herb shop was charged a total of $889.26. He found more fines to be charged by Recology for Extra Cardboard for 10 days with the highest fine of $327.80 a day. The rest of the fines were $245.85, $98.34, and $65.56 a day.

Again, Tan said he did not have many used cardboard boxes from his business. "I open my herb store everyday at 9am and close at 4pm. My business does not have to throw away many cardboard boxes every day."

"Should Recology provide evidence to prove that I have those cardboard before they charge me? What is the rate for charging extra cardboard? Why was my store fined for over $300 a day?" Tan said in Chinese. "Recology Company is like robbing its customers! The City should look into its practice!"

Sandy’s Lucky Bamboo & Florist

William and Sandy Weng, a couple who own Sandy's Lucky Bamboo & Florist on Jackson Street, were so frustrated and displeased with the experiences speaking with the staff at Recology on the phone.

They have requested only one-day service a week from Recology for years. The monthly rate is $91.53. They have participated in the automatic payment program.

In early October, Weng discovered that their bank account had been transferred out $861.86 and $1206.05 respectively in August and September to Recology. They were so shocked after reading the billing statements that they were fined almost $800 in August and over $1,100 in September for "Extra Cardboard".

In the August statement, the flower shop was fined for Extra Cardboard for 10 days with the highest at $196.68 a day. The shop was charged again for Extra Cardboard for 14 days in September with the highest at $163.90 a day.

They called Recology’s customer service phone line for inquiry. They were even more in shock that Recology did not provide any Chinese language customer service and its English-speaking employees tried to turn them away without any explanation or solutions on the disputed charges.

"We are selling fresh flowers and houseplants. We do not have many cardboard boxes on a daily basis. That's why we only requested Recology to pick up our trash once a week for many many years," said William Weng. "I have called many times to the customer service line. I was told that I needed to speak to a supervisor."

"On October 20, a Friday afternoon around 12;30pm, my wife called Recology again. I was standing next to her and listened to the entire conversation," said William Weng. "The employee who picked up the phone kept speaking without listening to my wife. So my wife asked the employee to stop. That employee hung up on her."

"I did ask the employee for proof of the cardboard and request to fix the problem in a timely manner. The employee then yelled at me saying 'I don't have to prove, you have to prove.' That ended our conversation," William Weng said he had never been treated like this by any companies' customer service employees.

Natural Lingerie Shop

Diana Tan is the owner of Natural Lingerie Shop on Jackson Street. She also requested one-day service a week from Recology. Her regular monthly trash bill is $91.53.

In her August billing statement, Tan was charged $774.19 in total with Extra Cardboard fines for 4 days. The highest fine for a day was $131.12.

Tan and her mother confirmed that they didn't have extra cardboard to be put outside their trash cans.

It is learned that some merchants in Chinatown chose to pay for the unreasonable cardboard fees because of the language barrier speaking with Recology employees.

In the meantime, some merchants in Chinatown said they had been fined $500 each time by the City's Department of Public Works for used cardboard boxes put on the streets and sidewalks.

Wind Newspaper sent inquiries and copies of three merchants' billing statements via emails to Recology, Department of Public Works and City Attorney's Office.

"We received your email and will prepare and send a response to your questions," said Robert Reed, a spokesperson for Recology. "We take this seriously and will look into this in detail." However, no further details were provided by Recology by press time.

City Attorney David Chiu and his office have not responded to any of our inquiries by press time.

Under the City's system, the Department of Public Works (DPW) is the agency to oversee Recology's service in San Francisco.

"Public Works coordinates with Recology, which is a private company and exclusive service provider for waste disposal in San Francisco. We work together to address illegal dumping. Recology charges additional collection fees for cardboard that is left out for pickup, outside of the blue cart," said Beth Rubenstein, spokeswoman of the DPW.

"Charges are levied when the cardboard exceeds a 2’ x 2 ’ x 2’ maximum bundle volume. This is not a fee imposed by our department or by the City and County of San Francisco," Rubenstein said.

Rubenstein said DPW would cite individuals and stores for violations of handling cardboard and trash. The fine for the first violation is $250, second violation $500.

"Public Works actively looks for illegally dumped cardboard around the city. Outreach Coordinators must be able connect the cardboard to a violator (i.e. a visible mailing label on the illegally dumped material or proximity or content). The fine for cardboard-related violations starts at $250, however depending on egregiousness of the infraction this can be increased at the discretion of the inspector," Rubenstein said.

"We’re actively patrolling Chinatown for illegal dumping of cardboard and all manner of violations. We encourage people to report or provide us evidence of violators at CodeEnforcement@sfdpw.org.," Rubenstein added.