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Sounds like an old law with good intent that needs to be revisited. I can see not wanting someone to take their whole neighborhood's organic waste output and dump it in their backyard (improperly) but at the same time a properly maintained compost site that doesn't exceed the volume requirements (for a permit) should be allowed no matter where they got the source material.
The worst part is that CA starts the regs then it spreads then the Feds think it is a good idea so all the states are "encouraged" to adopt the reg (encouraged as in if you don't also adopt the reg there is Fed money that you don't receive).
Everyone keeps talking about how liberal CA is but they seem to be the leader in taking more and more of our rights away.
Here in PA, we ran into the same sort of thing years ago. Hubby wanted to make our own mulch, and was told by the DEP that he couldn't compost leaves without a sediment pond to collect the acid runoff, so it didn't go into the surrounding creeks. Hubby told them the leaves had been composting themselves for thousands of years, and there wasn't always the benefit of a sediment pond. There was silence at the other end of the phone.
Same nonsense as the communities throughout the US which prohibit you from hanging your laundry out in your yard to dry. No, we cannot have unsightly clean laundry and undies flapping in the breeze - you MUST use an energy-guzzling emission-spouting machine to do that job. Oh, and by the way, if your grass ever exceeds one inch in height we'll be out there with our tape measures and cite you for such a grave infraction. Cheers!
The worst part is that CA starts the regs then it spreads then the Feds think it is a good idea so all the states are "encouraged" to adopt the reg (encouraged as in if you don't also adopt the reg there is Fed money that you don't receive).
Everyone keeps talking about how liberal CA is but they seem to be the leader in taking more and more of our rights away.
Bingo! This is exactly the case. I know of groups in some states that watch what California is doing carefully so that they can be prepared to fight against the same thing happening in their own state.
here in pa, we ran into the same sort of thing years ago. Hubby wanted to make our own mulch, and was told by the dep that he couldn't compost leaves without a sediment pond to collect the acid runoff, so it didn't go into the surrounding creeks. Hubby told them the leaves had been composting themselves for thousands of years, and there wasn't always the benefit of a sediment pond. There was silence at the other end of the phone.
I'll bet the law was passed because some low life just filled his back yard with all manner of dead things and called it a compost heap despite the smell and mess.
I agree with sirron's comment.Banning cloths lines in this day and age is an insult to energy conservation in general. These were banned because neighborhood didn't want to "look like poor people with clothslines in the back yard". The surburbanites wanted to look wealthier than they were. Snobs.
As for composting - where I live, there are no regulations that would prohibit it. And, that is a good thing. However, due to the various "critters" that are in my area, I don't dare compost.
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