Recycling enforcement starts today

Beginning today, Seattle Public Utilities garbage handlers who eyeball obvious violations of the city's mandatory recycling ordinance will attach a note with a reminder to recycle. They won't open bags, but if they can tell just by looking into the can that there's more than 10 percent that could've been recycled, they'll tag it.

The garbage stays put until the recyclables get sorted out.

A year after the ordinance came out, enforcement is on.

"We wanted to give folks a long lead time in educating them in what the rule is, not only what the ordinance is," said Seattle Public Utilities spokesman Brett Stav. "We focused a lot on education."

He said the goal is for the city to reach a 60 percent recycling rate by 2010. If that happens, he said, the city could save $2 million a year.

Seattle spends $23 million a year when it sends 900 million pounds to a landfill annually.

The real gap in local recycling, Stav said, lies with commercial properties and businesses. About 30 percent of that garbage is paper that could have been recycled. Random inspections will monitor business compliance. A fine of $50 -- "enough to get their attention" without being "Draconian," said Stav -- is levied on businesses that violate the ordinance more than twice. They'll get written warnings first before the fine is added to an account.

In a set of wide-ranging recommendations released to the city last year, the Seattle Business Climate Coalition -- which includes members of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Seattle Association -- opposed the mandatory recycling ordinance.

"The focus of the city and the business community should be on waste reduction," the proposal read. "These punitive requirements add to the regulatory burden of doing business in the city."

Christina Donegan, communications director for the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, said the organization's joint endeavor with Seattle Public Utilities, Resource Venture, already provides online and offline conservation and recycling assistance to local businesses.

At resourceventure.org, businesses have access not only to the rules of the mandatory ordinance, but also to a recycling database, a list of recycling stations and tips for how to begin a recycling program.

The most common residential mistakes, Stav said, are those things that people think are recyclable but aren't: plastic food trays, plastic cups, stained pizza boxes and aluminum foil.

He said the year's education has led to heightened residential awareness of the new law and a 5 percent decrease in commercial garbage compared with 2004.

So, think twice before ditching that toilet paper roll, pill bottle or plastic bag. It could add up. Now throw this paper -- or printout -- in the nearest recycling bin.

AT A GLANCE

City of Seattle Ordinance #121372 Enforcement (provided by Seattle Public Utilities):

Garbage collectors will not pick up household garbage cans that contain large amounts of recyclable paper, cardboard, as well as aluminum, tin, glass and plastic bottles and jars. They will leave a notice on the can and the resident will need to remove recyclables from the container before the garbage will be collected the following week.
Apartments, townhouses and condominiums whose garbage containers are filled with more than 10% recyclable paper, cardboard, aluminum and tin cans -- as well as glass and plastic bottles and jars -- will be tagged with warning notices by Seattle Public Utilities inspectors. After a third notice, a $50 charge will be added to the garbage account.
Recyclable paper, cardboard and yard debris are not allowed in commercial garbage. Businesses will be tagged with warning notices by Seattle Public Utilities inspectors if large amounts of these recyclables are dumped in the garbage. After a third notice, a $50 fine will be added to the garbage account. Street containers that receive waste from the public will be exempted.
To learn details about Seattle's recycling ordinance, get free recycling assistance, or sign up for recycling service, visit www.seattle.gov/util or call (206) RECYCLE.
Seattle residents can learn what can and can't be recycled by playing the online Recycling IQ Game.

P-I reporter Athima Chansanchai can be reached at 206-448-8041 or athimachansanchai@seattlepi.com.

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