New Law: $1000 Fine for Food Scraps in Trash
by Spence Cooper on 11/06/09 at 8:53 am
SAN FRANCISCO - New Garbage Rules
You can expect to be fined up to $1,000 if you toss a half eaten slice of pizza in the same trash bin as an old newspaper under San Francisco’s new recycling law. In a 9-2 vote, the Board of Supervisors passed new recycling and mandatory composting rules. “Under the new ordinance,” reports the NYTimes, “residents will be issued three mandatory garbage bins: a black one for trash, a blue one for recyclables and a green one for compost”.
“This takes big brother to an extreme I’m not comfortable with,” said Sean R. Elsbernd, a supervisor who voted against the proposal. “I don’t want the government going through my garbage cans.”
Local garbage collectors will double as roving trash cops, and if they happen to notice coffee grounds in a black trash bin, they’ll issue warnings; repeating offenders such as single family homes and small businesses will be fined $100, but apartment buildings and large businesses who violate the new law will be fined $1,000. Fines won’t be levied until 2011, allowing residents time to adapt to the new ordinance which may go into effect in 90 days.
“We are not going to throw you in the clink for putting your coffee grounds in the wrong bin,” said Nathan Ballard, spokesman for S.F. Mayor Gavin Newsom. “Fines will only be imposed in egregious cases.”
