Seattle Mandates Recycling

ENN: Environmental News Network [[Today's News Full Story ]]: "Starting in 2006, people in single-family homes won't get their trash picked up if they dump "significant amounts" of recyclables in their trash, defined by the city as more than 10 percent by volume. Owners of apartments, condominiums and businesses will face $50 fines.

So far, city officials say few people have complained. Most calls have come from people wondering how to comply with the new standards. [...]

"...In Madison, Wis., a liberal college town that embraced recycling enthusiastically when it began in 1991, a fine has never been imposed.

'Seventy percent of the population is going to walk across a bed of hot coals to recycle a bottle. They just do that. They believe in it,' said George Dreckmann, Madison's recycling coordinator. More than 90 percent follow the law, and Dreckmann said it doesn't make sense economically or practically to go after the few violators.

Recycling has been mandatory in Connecticut since 1991. Requirements vary from city to city, and enforcement has been the biggest challenge, said Judy Beleval, an environmental analyst with the state's Department of Environmental Protection.

'Some towns are good at it. Some towns are not so good at it,' Beleval said. 'In the beginning, most towns had a recycling coordinator. Over the years, because of budget cuts, that became the job of someone who was also doing 10 other things.'

Frank Gagliardo oversees recycling enforcement -- in 169 cities and towns, home to 3.5 million people -- for the Connecticut agency. 'We sort of have to pick and choose our battles,' he said.

Last summer, Pittsburgh started fining residents who weren't complying with a mandatory recycling law enacted in 1988 for large communities in Pennsylvania. As of late January, the city had issued about 660 tickets at $62.50 a pop. So far, no one's been slapped with a second fine, a whopping $500.

'Every time someone calls and complains about the citation, they say, 'Well, I didn't think you were serious,'' said Guy Costa, Pittsburgh's public works director. 'Now they're beginning to take us more seriously.' [...]"