Recycling hauler sues San Jose for discrimination, contract violations

San Jose’s largest recycling hauler is suing the city, claiming the city profits from contract violations and discriminates against the company because of its owners’ ethnicity.

California Waste Solutions (CWS), which provides recycling services to more than 175,000 single-family homes in San Jose, filed a lawsuit in Santa Clara County Superior Court this month. The company, which has contracted with the city since 2002, claims San Jose has, for years, failed to address the large amount of garbage that ends up in recycling bins. The issue, previously documented in city-commissioned studies, results in millions of dollars in additional costs the company has to shoulder in processing and disposal, the complaint said. San Jose officials also retaliated against the company, which is owned by a Vietnamese family, when the company complained about the high contamination rates—imposing hefty fines and putting the company on “probation,” the suit claims.