Seattle's new garbage law. I don't get it, seriously.

[Hemlock140]

Originally Posted by amaiunmei

1) The inspectors already exist. They are already on the lookout for recyclable objects (and have been since the 90s), so this is just more work for them.

2) The actual fine is $1 ...

3) ... which will not be assessed against a person until after "at least" 3 citations. By the city's own admission, they will not be "aggressively" enforcing the law right away. They may not end up enforcing the law at all in 2015 given all of the educational efforts that will need to be underway. This is a town with a lot of newcomers, so they are putting a lot of effort towards education and less towards enforcement.

4) For those who think this is a revenue generator, note that inspectors working for the contractor companies (WM and Cleanscapes) make over $20/hr. The inspectors working for the city make over $24/hr starting out. That's not including gas and other expenses that the inspectors charge off. Trust and believe when I tell you that, mathematically speaking, the expense of having an inspector look at your garbage can pretty much never be recovered by the fines being generated, even if every person was cited.

For more education on this topic, see here:

Q&A pokes deeper into Seattle’s new composting rules, fines | Local News | The Seattle Times

With the cost of enforcement and a fine of $1, no, it's not a cash cow for individual residences. For commercial, however, it's $50 and very easy for the collectors/inspectors to note and record violations in large dumpsters.

[amaiunmei]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

With the cost of enforcement and a fine of $1, no, it's not a cash cow for individual residences. For commercial, however, it's $50 and very easy for the collectors/inspectors to note and record violations in large dumpsters.

That fine is, again, only assessed after 2 documented "warning" violations:

New garbage rules begin Jan. 1, with fines to follow

So, basically, don't be a dick to the inspectors and work with them. Lord knows, the last thing those guys (and gals) want is to go through a dumpster of solid waste. Believe it or not, they are more predisposed to be helpful than not. And again, $50 is not even going to begin to cover the cost of an inspector (salary + gas + potential overtime if needed) doing random inspections. They'd rather not go there.

[Trigger-f]

NAZI waste mgmt rules...

[mrman78]

It seems pretty silly. I mostly don't like that if not everyone in a complex is doing it correctly, the landlord will get fines and eventually raise rents to cover it. Doesn't seem fair that we all would have to pay for that, but then again, this happens all the time with many things. Like we need another thing to cause a raise in rents...

[Ruth4Truth]

Well, I think this is very interesting. It may be carrying things to extremes, but they must be doing this for a reason--is there a shortage of dump space?

I remember when they set up a system that encouraged residents to recycle, by distributing trash cans of different sizes, the smallest size incurring the lowest monthly fee. I thought that was cool, and more cities should be doing it. I'd always been vaguely interested in composting and had plenty of backyard space to do it, so this could have been the nudge I needed to follow through. But still, fining people and such (though a mostly symbolic fine) is new territory in the waste disposal business.

So what gives? Are they running out of landfill locations? You can't say they're not innovative.

[mkarch]

Originally Posted by mrman78

It seems pretty silly. I mostly don't like that if not everyone in a complex is doing it correctly, the landlord will get fines and eventually raise rents to cover it. Doesn't seem fair that we all would have to pay for that, but then again, this happens all the time with many things. Like we need another thing to cause a raise in rents...

Else we all pay higher garbage rates? People living in houses and town homes can scale back their garbage production and use smaller containers - or get a big container and pay hundreds of dollars a month. People living in multi-family housing on the other hand get charged a flat rate, so there's no incentive to create less trash.

I've cut back my weekly garbage production to the smallest container offered by the City of Seattle. I compost all of my green waste, so all I pay for is the minimum garbage and base recycling fee. If a bunch of people in multi-family housing are too lazy to scrape their plates into a separate bin, why should I pay for that? I've already done everything I can to cut my trash down to the minimum.

Looking at the costs associated with dumping, green waste should be less expensive to process since they just pile it up, mix in shredded trees and let it rot for a few months. Then it's re-sold for $40/yard as Cedar Grove compost. That isn't possible if it's all mixed in with bottle caps and plastic take out containers.