Socialist Seattle

[Team Sergeant]

Yes comrade, I will pay your communist fine of one dollar when you come and take it from me. Until then I will purchase whatever I like and throw away whatever I like. And when you come to "fine" me you'd better bring many "operators" and there will be a gunfight over "my" dollar.



Seattle imposes fine for too many food scraps in the garbage
By Victoria Cavaliere
SEATTLE Tue Sep 23, 2014 4:34pm EDT


(Reuters) - Seattle residents who throw too many pizza crusts, coffee grounds and uneaten leftovers in their regular garbage will now face a fine, in one of the toughest mandatory composting efforts in the country, officials said on Tuesday.

The Seattle City Council voted on Monday to impose a $1 fine on residents each time they fill more than 10 percent of their home garbage with compostable waste, such as food scraps and paper products. Repeat offenders could see the fine increase to $50.

Seattle, long seen as a leader in urban sustainability and recycling efforts, is the second major U.S. city after San Francisco to make composting mandatory in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change, environmental officials said.

Global centers such as New York City and London have also considered fines for residents who fail to dump food waste in designated compost bins but have not so far adopted them.

Up to 40 percent of food purchased in the United States is thrown out, according to the National Resource Defense Council.

In 2012, only 5 percent of food waste was diverted from landfills for composting, a process of decomposition of organic waste like food, yard trimmings and paperboard products, the EPA said.

Over the past five years, a number of cities and states have created voluntary curbside composting programs and increased efforts to divert food and yard waste out of landfills, the agency said.

cont:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/23/us-usa-washington-recycle-idUSKCN0HI2EF20140923

[Snaquebite]

So.............who's inspecting all this trash and what union do they belong to?

[Box]

I'd start shitting in my trash can...
...then they cuoldn't say I wasn't composting.

Plus it would keep things interesting for the trash inspector.

The birthplace of the five dollar cup of coffee; no wonder folks are willing to pay a dollar to throw away their own garbage.

[The Reaper]

You know, it is healthier for the sewage system not to receive items other than human waste.

Used toilet paper, wipes, etc. belong in the garbage can.

Maybe Seattle should get with the program.

And incidentally, who maintains the chain of custody on the waste until the adjudication is complete?

Frankly, I think I'd rather flip burgers for $15 per hour.

TR

[PSM]

So.............who's inspecting all this trash and what union do they belong to?

Well, here in Cochise county, it's county inmates. I'm pretty sure they haven't formed a union yet. Well, not that kind of union anyway. ;)

Pat

[Dean Jarvis]

Well, here in Cochise county, it's county inmates. I'm pretty sure they haven't formed a union yet. Well, not that kind of union anyway. ;)

Pat

Well you can bet if Billy gets his way that will be considered Cruel and Unusual Punishment. :munchin

[UWOA (RIP)]

I'd start shitting in my trash can...

I doubledog dare ya! Cuz if you do, so will I. We could start a trend .....

.

[Golf1echo]

You longer term city dwellers may know but it was a rude awakening to heave several rolling cans up into a dumpster and find out they were filled with bags of dog poo...seems that's how all that scat gets gone from the streets and alleys around here. I never used them and assumed they remained empty until they started smelling, needless to say they aren't out any more. So Seattle, I can see it now locks on your cans, apartment trash monitored, and bags of dog shi t every where. Either way did anyone bother to account for 634,535 people in a high density area composting unregulated?
" Sanitation is the Cornerstone to health".

Ideas are good only if they work and can be afforded...

[slimsflyfishing]

I'd start shitting in my trash can...
...then they cuoldn't say I wasn't composting.

LMFAO!!! That's the best thing I've heard in a while! :D

[Gypsy]

I don't know how my brother stands it...

It is pretty but jeez.

[Team Sergeant]

Well done comrades in Communist Seattle! From state to federal level law! (EPA is getting involved)

I don't remember reading this part in the US Constitution? Must be a government food clause.

Let me know when you've had enough of progressive/socialist/communist government overreach........

It's just a matter of time.




Seattle to Fine Residents for Throwing Food in the Garbage

January 28, 2015 - 9:37 AM

In an attempt to shame residents of their city, a new Seattle law will levy a fine on homes that do not properly sort food out of their garbage.

Emblazoned with a red citation tag, violators will start to be fined anywhere from $1-$50 in July. For now, Seattle residents will be publicly shamed by the ‘Scarlet Letter’-like tags.

The tags are part of, what the city calls, a “public education campaign.”

In an interview with NPR, Watkins details how he goes about enforcing the draconian statute:


"You can see all the oranges and coffee grounds," he says, raising one lid.” All that makes great compost. You can put that in your compost bin and buy it back next year in a bag and put it in your garden."

The ultimate goal of the law is to boost composting while reducing greenhouse gasses:


Food waste is both an economic and environmental burden. Transporting the waste, especially for distances as far as Seattle does, is costly. So too is allowing it to sit out in the open, where it produces methane, one of the most harmful greenhouses gases, as it rots. The second largest component of landfills in the United States is organic waste, and landfills are the single largest source of methane gas.

The EPA has already begun a campaign to achieve laws similar to Seattle’s.

The outstanding question remains: what purview is it of government to act as people’s trash nanny?

http://www.cnsnews.com/blog/curtis-kalin/seattle-fine-residents-throwing-food-garbage

[cbtengr]

You get the government that you elect. These folks would go nuts if they saw all my neighbors burn barrels.

[Streck-Fu]

So too is allowing it to sit out in the open, where it produces methane, one of the most harmful greenhouses gases, as it rots. The second largest component of landfills in the United States is organic waste, and landfills are the single largest source of methane gas.


What is the effin difference from the food rotting at the dump and rotting in my compost bin?

The methane is still created and released.....Just because I use the final product in my garden does not mean the methane was not created in the first place.

[Javadrinker]

What is the effin difference from the food rotting at the dump and rotting in my compost bin?

The methane is still created and released.....Just because I use the final product in my garden does not mean the methane was not created in the first place.

Common sense does not apply

[mark46th]

I've got 3 dogs that each crap twice a day. The government can look in my trash can all they want...

[tonyz]

If this idiotic regulatory overreach comes my way count me in - operation steaming deuce...