Seattle pushing recycling law with obvious loopholes

There’s no way for a Seattle resident to actually prove to the city they’re recycling properly. And, therefore, no real way to argue against a $1 fine.

From the way Keli Carender described it to KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson, even the city will be guessing.

Carender, one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit opposing the city’s ordinance that hasn’t fully gone into effect, says there isn’t enough data to back up fines people will receive. The ordinance calls for anyone who disposes of too much recyclable material in their garbage to be fined &#8212 right now the city is just doling out warnings.

Carender received two such warnings that have left her scratching her head.

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“My husband and I composted everything,” she told Dori, referencing when they received the warnings. She admits there may have been an apple core in the garbage; hardly the 10 percent of recyclable or compostable material needed to warrant a citation.

When she asked someone from Waste Management of Washington why she got a warning and how people picking up her garbage knew how much recyclable material was actually in there, she was told that “it’s just sort of a guess.”

Though disconcerting, hearing that Waste Management might just be guessing might not come as a surprise. Unless someone’s garbage is full of holes and the contents are spilling out onto the ground, there’s no way someone could really determine how much of the contents are recyclable. Especially if people are using non-transparent bags, Dori said.

Non-transparent bags are exactly what Carender uses at home. When she asked someone else from the city about that, this is was their response: “See, some of the loopholes benefit us and some benefit you,” she told Dori.

Once the law goes into full effective, residential and commercial businesses will have to be cautious of what they throw out, otherwise face a fine. Individual households will face a token fine of $1; businesses and apartment owners will be fined $50.

Though he knows the region is “crazy,” Dori said this is one of the strangest fees lawmakers have ever tried to “ramrod” through. City attorney Pete Holmes has defended the law, saying it upholds the constitutions of civil liberties because there is no intention of opening bags, Dori told Carender.

There’s another problem: Once a citation is given, the garbage is still hauled away, Carender told Dori. That means that a home or business owner has no proof of the contents of the garbage.

Dori and Carender brainstormed what the city could do to back up the law. Why not have garbage trucks go door-to-door with scales and measure and weigh the contents of someone’s trash? That way they can determine exactly how much recyclable material was thrown out. It’s a process that can be done in front of everyone, which won’t make people feel uncomfortable at all.

But is it really that big of a deal? One of Dori’s listeners, Rob, said Seattle residents pay the government to haul their trash away. People are releasing ownership of that garbage by putting it out on the sidewalk. If people don’t like the law, why not just bring the trash to the transfer stations themselves?

Nice try, Rob, but the city thought of that. Under the ordinance, self-haul customers are prohibited from disposing of significant amounts of recyclable and compostable material.