In an effort to shame residents into properly sorting their garbage, the city of Seattle plans to levy fines on noncompliant households,
CNS News reported.
For now, scofflaws are let off with a warning, although they will be shamed with "Scarlet Letter"-like red citation tags.
"I'm sure neighbors are going to see these on their ... neighbors' cans," said Rodney Watkins, a lead driver for
Recology CleanScapes, a city waste contractor.
The citation tag signals to neighbors that a household has broken the law — in other words, that in excess of 10 percent of its trash consists of food.
Critics say that, if the city is serious about enforcing the law, waste contractors will need to do more than merely eyeball residents' trash. They will have to examine garbage closely enough to determine that it contains more than 10 percent food, rather than a mere 9.7 or 9.8 percent.
The red tags are part of a "public education" campaign about the new law, which took effect Jan. 1. The actual fines won't occur until July, when single households will pay $1 per violation and apartments, condominiums, and commercial buildings will face fines of $50, according to NPR.
Supporters justify the need for such measures on grounds that food waste is environmentally hazardous, and that it produces methane gas — one of the most harmful greenhouse gases.
HotAir.com commented that "if you'd like to encourage this behavior or do a public awareness campaign, fine. But at what cost does this kind of enforcement come?"
Seattle "is no doubt populated with people who were extremely worried the PATRIOT Act would mean their mail would be read by George Bush or something. But giving random city officials the right to quantify your trash? No problem."
When city governments like that in Seattle talk about "recycling," what they are actually discussing is "compulsion and revenue,"
HotAir.com concluded.
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