The totalitarian nannyists of the Seattle City Clowncil have voted to microregulate residential garbage: "City to require table-scrap recycling at homes in 2009"
All single-family homes in Seattle must sign up for table-scrap recycling in 2009, the City Council decided Monday.You know, if they want to offer me incentives to implement an elaborate garbage processing scheme, that's one thing. But when they impose their messy fetishes on the rest of us, it becomes tempting to bring one's food waste to a Clowncil meeting and deliver it in person. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at July 16, 2007 11:38 PM | Email ThisWhile residents will have to pay for the service, the city will not check whether they are actually dumping food in the new separate bin.
This apartment dweller, thus not required to participate (thankfully, since I have no where else to put yet another bucket), thinks the food scrap recycling is out of line too. They're even going to make folks who compost pay for this!
Posted by: Jessica on July 17, 2007 06:52 AMSoylent Green is a good idea - ironically, we should start with the "greens" because in theory they should support the concept the most and complain the least.... ;-)
Posted by: John Galt on July 17, 2007 08:26 AMWhen Seattle decided to implement forced recycling a few years ago, the main reason given was to reduce the amount of landfill land the city would have to buy.
Has anyone seen ANY measurement if this program is financially successful? Has the city purchased less land, and has that savings offset the cost of the program?
Posted by: NolaGuy on July 17, 2007 08:32 AMWhen Seattle decided to implement forced recycling a few years ago, the main reason given was to reduce the amount of landfill land the city would have to buy.
Has anyone seen ANY measurement if this program is financially successful? Has the city purchased less land, and has that savings offset the cost of the program?
Posted by: Nolaguy on July 17, 2007 08:33 AM
"Have little and gain. Have much and be confused."
-- Lao Tsu
Good grief...
Posted by: Nolaguy on July 17, 2007 08:43 AMAnd roger that to Hinton @ # 5:
The further away from the better. When I read stuff like this I'm thankful that Okanogan County is far enough removed from Greater Seattle that we are safely out of the direct reach of any branch or variant of Seattle or King County government. Unfortunately the same does not hold for the currently leftist-dominated Legislature.
NolaGuy @ # 8 has the serious part of this; that applies all the way from the SCC to the current Legislature: ''It's about creating new bureaucracy.''.... and, I might add:
Paying off your political friends in said bureaucracy; i.e.: Forced ''contributions'' from rank-and-file union members, etcetera. An endless vicious circle: More government programs that require ever-more bureaucrats to run them, that require ever-increasing ''contributions'' from we the taxpayers to keep those bureaucrats and supporters well-fed.
This went on for years with me having my recyclables taken away and another person supplementing his pension by taking the material to the recycle center and selling it.
Low and behold, one day the County Council decides that the County will assume responsibility for MY recyclable material, and made the arrangement that I had with the gentleman who had been removing my recyclables illegal.
When I was notified of this my response was that the recyclables were my property and I can give them to any one I want to and if the County doesn't like it they can pound sand.
It wasn't too long after this mandatory recycling was implemented that I read in the News Buffoon that the County mandated recycling plan was loosing more money than had been anticipated.
I read the full analysis of this "opportunity" on the SPU Website. It's starts on page 137 of this doc:
http://tinyurl.com/2b2krs
A few highlights:
The reasons they want to ban self-haulers is mainly because they don't want to do maintenance on the transfer stations that allows self-haulers to be there safely. They also believe that self-haulers slow down the contract garbage haulers.
They will attempt to charge an extra $20 per ITEM to pick up bulky stuff in front of your house. That's right - it costs something like $20 a TON to go to the transfer station, but now one matress will cost 20 bucks.
Read the report - it's amazing.
This is not about reducing waste.
What about all the extra methane and how it will global warm up all those brain dead grunge band hybrid skateboard Seattle sprout munchers?
Reason 4,379 to stay out of Seattle. It already stinks. Compost on! Seattle deserves it!
Posted by: pbs7mm on July 17, 2007 09:20 AMI'm surprised Seattle hasn't banned disposable diapers yet.
Posted by: Palouse on July 17, 2007 09:25 AMYou volunteering Stefan or are you just talking out your ass as usual?
Liberals seem to be unable to anticipate the unpleasant consequences of their dopey "progressive" ideas.
Posted by: Bill Cruchon on July 17, 2007 09:50 AMIf you wonder why the City's bills to support the sewage treatment plant are so high, the concept of garbage disposals should be enlightening.
Treatment plants are great at reducing the already-digested human wastes to more or less inert status. It takes far more effort for them to reduce undigested organic stuff like meat and potatoes and whatever Whole Foods sells, to the same inertness. That 'effort' includes more capital costs for larger facilities, and more power use - eg, more global warming, for you religious fanatics. As your sewage bill (meaning your water consumption, including lawn and garden use that never sees the treatment plant) trends ever more astronomical, you may think twice about encouraging electric garbage 'disposals'.
Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on July 17, 2007 10:00 AMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oloM_dSoW4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvfQ0iffj40
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cnoj9MPpi54
1) Free markets. Period. Full stop.
2) Brutal repression of liberals/wackos/protestors/greenies/anyone who quotes 4 billion dollars for a goddamn floating bridge.
Results?
1) Economic growth
2) More intelligent people.
Maybe after 20 years or so of this we could go back to democracy.
Just my two cents...
1) Free markets. Period. Full stop.
2) Brutal repression of liberals/wackos/protestors/greenies/anyone who quotes 4 billion dollars for a goddamn floating bridge.
Results?
1) Economic growth
2) More intelligent people.
Maybe after 20 years or so of this we could go back to democracy.
Just my two cents...
1) Free markets. Period. Full stop.
2) Brutal repression of liberals/wackos/protestors/greenies/anyone who quotes 4 billion dollars for a goddamn floating bridge.
Results?
1) Economic growth
2) More intelligent people.
Maybe after 20 years or so of this we could go back to democracy.
Just my two cents...
An apartment owner raises her rents, and the liberals scream. The government raises taxes on duplicate services and the liberals praise Gaia.
Posted by: Obi-Wan on July 17, 2007 11:14 AMhttp://jewishworldreview.com/cols/will071607.php3
Posted by: Rey Smith on July 17, 2007 11:36 AMIt may make some sense to recycle aluminum cans, I suppose. It just makes the tree-huggers feel warm and fuzzy inside - and I pretty much hate them anyway. Their eyeballs would pop out of their skulls if they saw what I place into my black plastic, duct-taped shut garbage bag which goes into my garbage can.,
Posted by: ajday on July 17, 2007 11:38 AMWho knew SCC loved us so much?
Other than that. what a bunch of clowns.
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on July 17, 2007 11:59 AMDo you also object to the laws against dumping your garbage in the nearest street or park? Shouldn't "they" (your government, which you elect and pay for) offer you incentives to pay for regular garbage collection?
Posted by: Bruce on July 17, 2007 02:10 PMWatch and see how much more garbage gets dumped in the parks and streets because lower income folks would rather feed their families than pay exhorbitant fees to dump their trash. This is nothing more than a tax gouging persecution of the citizenry.
Posted by: NWDenizen on July 17, 2007 02:46 PMIf put in a pile with other yard debris, occasionally covered with dirt or turned, there is no smell. And the compost goes back into the vegetable garden.
Posted by: Ed on July 17, 2007 02:52 PMNot everyone has a compost pile or a vegetable garden. The city is proposing some kind of container for "food waste". That container damned well better be able to be sealed tight or we're looking at some very unsanitary conditions. And do we need to talk about the smell?
And, with an alternate-week pick up schedule, that stuff is going to get really ripe - especially during the summer months. Count on the vermin showing up for the feast.
We have mandated curbside pick up where we live, but we still haul our garbage to the dump ourselves and pay the bill anyway. It kind of irritates me, really, since we are essentially paying double to avoid the hassles involved with letting the city do it! We share a driveway with two other families, and the pick up area is also shared. We found that we were consistently being charged for other people's unmarked receptacles. We also got tired of picking up garbage on windy days or after the raccoons had had a party (yes, we first tried securing the lids better, and that annoyed the garbage man!).
I'm with everyone else. This isn't motivated by any kind of noble ideal; it is simply another way to siphon off taxpayer money.
Posted by: Peggy U on July 17, 2007 03:17 PMI guess those who don't learn history are doomed to repeat it, eh?
Posted by: Steven Donegal on July 17, 2007 03:59 PMThank God I FLED Seattle.
Posted by: Robert Wheeldon on July 17, 2007 04:11 PMUntil that time arrives, I'll just continue to throw everything in the garbage & let them decide how to recycle it.
I'm paying for the garbage service, so it should be for my benefit. We no longer subscribe to local newspapers, we seldom eat anything out of a can & we use a garbage disposal. So, I don't even know why I should be charged for any recycling at all.
Posted by: Clean House on July 17, 2007 04:50 PMCheck out these 1-Bedroom condos selling for $75,000 in Madison (yes, 75K, I didn't miss a zero)
549 Donofrio Drive Unit 3, Madison, WI 53719
Look at how friendly and nice Madison looks -- Seattle has become a regulatory hellhole:
http://www.ci.madison.wi.us/
"Visigoths" like the owner of this site?
Oh great, more government intervention. And I'm certain forcing companies to change their packaging won't increase the cost to the consumer.
I don't exactly see how this ties in with Seattle's ridiculous proposal regarding food waste.
Next thing you know you'll want to "force" companies to eliminate the use of plastic. The madness never ends.
Have any of you ever seen the way they package birth control pills? For some reason that escapes me, pharmaceutical companies package them in big, gaudy containers that look like seashells or flowers or whatever! Then they enclose the container in a box or sleeve as well. Do they think this appeals to consumers? I've never met anyone who bought a drug for the appearance of its container. They don't do this with other drugs, so why the Pill? I've written letters to some of these companies about this overkill. Market pressure, rather than government intervention, should motivate them. If it bothers you enough to complain, Realist, then send a letter.
Posted by: Peggy U on July 18, 2007 01:26 PMMost people will not throw waste food directly in any container whatsoever. Why, because it will rot and stink, and emptying it just exposes you to all the gore of rot and stink. People won't do it. Al Gore doesn't do it.
So if you can put it in a plastic bag in the container, then you can dispose of it without having to deal with a stinky can and mess.
But they don't want you to throw away plastic bags.
The city doesn't look to see if you are separating it.
They don't give a rip!
It's just another Seattle feel good tax and fee hike...
Look soon for King County to mimick Seattle, they continually hang out in the same outhouse.
Posted by: GS on July 18, 2007 06:59 PMThis is just another tax to separate the voters from their money. But the pinheads on the Klowncil know that because this will make the subject feel good very few will complain.
You really must watch the Penn and Teller videos that Peggy U linked too. The money quote is at the end of the third segment, that this is about control by people (libs) that like to control other people's lives.
And what about those homeowners that already use compost bins that use worms to turn the leftover vegetable matter into compost. Why should they pay twice?
Posted by: Obi-Wan on July 18, 2007 09:45 PM