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Seattle to fine residents for not composting

SEATTLE: Seattle to fine residents for not composting | National Business News | The Bellingham Herald

Seattle Public Utilities asked the council to consider the ordinance because the agency is falling short of its recycling and composting goals. The council vote was 9-to-0. No public hearing was required.
Why no public hearing? Ok, it wasn't required. So? Ethically, if for no other reason, shouldn't people be given the opportunity to voice their thoughts on a new fine system prior them being subjected to it?
 
I have a question about this: Who gets to use the compost?? I'm big fan of composting and I understand just how much compost a household can produce in a year. I actually have to haul out dirt from my raised bed garden every year to have room for the compost I produce. So if you take a city the size of Seattle and require everyone to compost, that's a LOT of compost. Most people can't use that much compost, especially, if they're apartment dwellers. So, who's getting this "black gold"?

The city has a contract wit Cedar Grove Composting which takes the materials, composts them, and sells the compost.
 
People in apt buildings are not required to separate their garbage and are not subject to fines.

It helps to read the article

Why do that? More fun to speculate.
 
People in apt buildings are not required to separate their garbage and are not subject to fines.

It helps to read the article

If that is true, then it is obviously a plan to make money.

if you get a ticket for your trash, how do you prove it was not true?

If everybody is not doing it what is the point?
 
because making money is bad

I don't know how to respond to that.

You are OK with a money making scheme targeting homeowners specifically?

Do they not pay enough in property taxes already?
 
Ah, the pleasures of living in rural red state fly over America!!!
 
I don't know how to respond to that.

You are OK with a money making scheme targeting homeowners specifically?

Do they not pay enough in property taxes already?

I have no problem with a LOCAL govt seeking to lower it's garbage disposal costs by penalizing those who use the service unnecessarily and contribute to environmental degradation
 
No, apartment tenants are not "required" to compost, and the article does indeed say as much, but the point being selectively glossed over is that the articles does say that apartment owners will be fined... and it doesn't take a proverbial Einstein to know that landlords will lean on their tenants to fall in line. Possibly to the point of including in leases. Apartment tenants might as well be required as the end result will be the same.

Geez, this aspect is splitting hairs to an absurd degree... :roll:... but apparently somebody needs to point out the obvious.
 
Isn't a garbage heap, composting anyway? It all goes into the ground, so what difference does it make where it goes?


Tim-
 

Nobody should ever be surprised by the idiocy of politicians, particularly when those politicians operate under the cover of darkness.

If this is to be competently implemented, the costs in overtime and administration of this nonsense will far outstrip any fines collected.

Enviro-terrorists, in whatever form they take, are intent on bankrupting society as we know it and pushing everyone back into living in caves.
 
"black gold"?

.....Texas tea - "Wanna tell you all a story bout a man named Jed - poor mountaineer barely kept his family fed - then one day while he's shooting up some food - up through the ground came a bubbling crude - oil that is, "black gold", Texas tea"...

Thanks for the memory trigger!!
 
I'm fine with Seattle doing [insert whatever lame thing it's doing now]. Not a place I've ever even thought of living because the city has always been like this. If the folks who live there want to live this way, that's their call. Local government is responsive.

Btw, I love our waste management here. The recycle rules are a bit arcane and almost require a degree to know what can and what cannot be recycled. Other than that, the service is reliable and they actually make enough on what they do with the trash that the service cost to the consumer is low.
 
Sounds like a law that can be very arbitrarily and prejudicially reported. Easily abused.

I'd like to see the first law suit where they need to prove that it was their trash with too much compostible food in it...since the evidence will be mixed in with all the other garbage.
Right. Does this turn the garbage man into a code enforcement officer?
 
Right. Does this turn the garbage man into a code enforcement officer?

I bet they havent thought that far ahead yet.
 
On a serious note, here in Toronto, Canada we have a very good system of garbage collection and sorting.

1. The city provides each home with three bins - a green one for "wet" waste - a blue one for recyclables - a grey one for regular garbage. The city also provided a couple of "wet" waste containers for inside your house to collect kitchen waste and bathroom tissues, etc. Wet waste is any wet paper product, dog crap, food scraps, diapers - kids and seniors - etc.

2. The city charges the homeowner nothing to pick up the green bin or the blue bin - green bins are relatively small, but you can get as many as you want - blue bins come in three sizes, each at no additional cost to the homeowner. The grey bin is where you pay for pick-up.

3. Previously, the city charged for garbage pick-up via the municipal property taxes - they transferred it to the water bill so it could be a line item easily recognized. As said previously, there's no additional charge for green or blue bin pick-up. On your water bill, if you have the smallest grey (regular garbage) bin, you get a small rebate - if you have a medium grey bin, you get hit with a significant charge - if you have a large grey bin, you get hammered. In addition, for times when you may have additional regular garbage, you can buy stickers you place on regular garbage bags, $2 a sticker.

I'm a conservative and I love it. The initial cost to the city to roll out the program was substantial, but from my perspective this is a core business of the city and it was a smart move to save money in the long term as the city moves to reduce the cost of waste collection and greatly reduces the need for landfill garbage sites. The bins are neat and sturdy and the system has been terrific - I find I have maybe 5% of my waste go to regular garbage with the vast majority going to recycling and about 25% going to wet waste.

This is the kind of program government was and is designed for - I'm all for it.
 
I generally favor composting myself, better for the environment, but instituting a fine for not doing so? That's just ridiculous.

I'd like to see one for not recycling. I'd wager that less than 10 percent of folks do in my area. Meanwhile the landfills keep filling up.
 
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