Garbage has always been a touchy subject in San Jose. In 1993, when the city began its Recycle Plus program, mechanical problems on the trucks let trash rot on the streets.

Then, in late 2000, then-Mayor Ron Gonzales was ensnared in a scandal with waste hauler Norcal that resulted in taxpayers having to pay an additional $11.25 million in wages to recycling workers.

Now something with echoes to the past is quietly unfolding at City Hall. Put simply, the question is whether San Jose taxpayers should bail out a recycling operation that is clearly inefficient.

That recycling operation, run by California Waste Solutions in a former office building on Timothy Drive, has a wealth of problems.

A consultant for the city concluded that its equipment is wearing out. The operation turns out dirty bales of recycled material. And it lacks enough workers.

CWS disputes much of this. Company spokesman Joel Corona argued before the council that the real problem is the “contamination” of recycled goods coming into the plant. In other words, it’s the fault of the residents, not the company.

Corona’s argument is a stretch, for reasons I’ll get to in a second. But in an election year, some council members appear sympathetic to his thinking.

Vietnam roots

California Waste Solutions was begun by David Duong, a Vietnamese refugee who was born to wealth in Saigon but fled penniless on a boat after the Communists seized power.

With contracts for recycling in Oakland and San Jose, Duong has become one of the wealthiest Vietnamese entrepreneurs in the Bay Area.

He and his brother Victor have emerged as generous donors and bundlers — able to deliver multiple checks — to San Jose political campaigns on both sides of the labor-management divide.

But controversy has dogged the company. It was CWS’ decision to pay lower Longshoremen’s wages at its recycling plant, rather than the higher Teamsters’ wages that traditionally prevailed, that was at the heart of the Norcal scandal. (Gonzales interceded secretly on behalf of higher wages for the recycling workers at CWS, which was then a subcontractor to Norcal.)

The topic of CWS’ operations arose recently before the City Council, which was considering a report about what kind of trash residents were leaving at the curb.

Problems

Under questioning by Mayor Sam Liccardo, the city’s staff and consultants disclosed a host of problems. For starters, CWS is facing a fine of $500,000 to $600,000 this year for not meeting its goals for recycling.

The city’s consultant, Joe Sloan, said the company has underinvested in its Timothy Drive plant. When a new 10-year contract was negotiated in 2011, on favorable terms for the haulers, other companies upgraded. The city says CWS did not.

“The maintenance at that facility is lacking,” said Sloan, who said the industry standard for such a plant would be six to eight maintenance workers. CWS, he said, has one worker during the shift and two afterward.

CWS deals with its customers in a way that — at least according to the city staff — produces reams of complaints. It sends out 3,600 “noncollect notices” per month, essentially refusals to pick up trash for a variety of reasons. The other recycler, GreenTeam, which covers a smaller territory, averages 11.

CWS even refused to allow the city’s consultant to photograph the inside of the plant, according to Kerrie Romanow, the director of the environmental services department.

Corona, the chief operating officer for CWS, insisted at the meeting that the core of the problem is a “contamination” level that reaches 40 percent.

“The CWS facility operates every day and it processes material very well,” he told me. “CWS’ greatest concern is the effort it takes to process that material and the fatigue that puts on our equipment.”

But the city staff says the level of contamination has not changed over the years, though there is less recycling material overall (fewer newspapers, for one thing).

Romanow told me that CWS has “hinted” that it might request more money from the city to upgrade its operations. And three council members — Ash Kalra, Magdalena Carrasco and Johnny Khamis — signed a memo urging the city staff to go easy on any fine.

That’s a mistake. CWS knew what it was doing when it bid for this contract. The Duongs have made millions here. The residents should not bail them out, however generous they are at election time.

Contact Scott Herhold at 408-275-0917 or sherhold@mercurynews.com. Follow him at Twitter.com/scottherhold.