Garbage Crackdown Collects Complaints Ordinance Requiring Payment To Garbage Hauler Is 5 Years Old, But Only Recently Enforced
It’s not the type of anti-government revolt that has people arming themselves, but it could raise a stink.
At issue: household trash.
Since Pullman city officials began enforcing a mandatory garbage pickup ordinance this fall, they have found hundreds of households living outside the law.
A dozen residents are appealing fines and warning letters issued under the city law, which requires that every household pay for weekly service by Pullman Disposal, the local private garbage hauler.
“It boils down to one thing,” said Ralph Dannenberg, public services director. “They don’t like being told by government that they have to do something.”
“It’s a new movement,” said Pullman Disposal Vice President Devon Felsted, his tongue slightly in cheek. “In the ‘60s we had Vietnam. In the ‘90s we have garbage.”
City officials started enforcing the city’s 5-year-old mandatory trash disposal rule this year after property managers complained of people freeloading on other people’s garbage service.
But in stepping up enforcement of the rule, officials encountered a wave of opposition from so-called “garbage resisters.”
Les Hulse, the city community improvement officer in charge of weed control and solid waste problems, has spent close to 100 hours a month enforcing the ordinance, Dannenberg said.
Dannenberg himself has fielded complaints that the city is rounding up business for Pullman Disposal, when he insists the ordinance is aimed simply at protecting the public health and welfare.
“Our goal is not to make money for anything,” he said.
After issuing several hundred warning letters, Dannenberg has heard from elderly people having trouble hauling cans, low-income people having trouble paying the monthly fee and business owners hauling household waste to their commercial Dumpsters.
Teresa Finch, an 82-year-old widow, had her son Jerry take her garbage to the Dumpster at his local grocery store. But because he is not licensed to haul garbage, she said she now must haul cans to the road on a sloped driveway that makes her nervous.
Lenora Cridland said she can’t afford paying for garbage on a fixed Social Security payment of $406 each month.
“Most people need to have their trash picked up every week,” she said. “The reason I’m objecting to it is because of finances and because I recycle.”
Dee Schwendiman, owner of a local second-hand store, said he should be able to haul household waste to his business Dumpster for the $600 a year he pays for it.
“I’m not an angel,” said Schwendiman, “but they can raise your water and sewer and raise your garbage (rates). I’m tired of them telling me what to do.”
Cridland lost a court appeal of a $50 fine. Finch and Schwendiman and nearly a dozen other residents made their case in administrative hearings before Dannenberg, but Dannenberg concluded he can’t cut them some slack under the law.
The minimum a resident can pay for garbage service is $9.56 a month for a 10-gallon “micro-can.” The standard 32-gallon can costs $13.22 a month and a small, 1-yard Dumpster costs $35.51 plus rent and taxes.
Felsted said he is researching a program in which customers can volunteer to pay more to help subsidize financially strapped residents. He doubted claims that some residents can get by entirely on reducing, reusing and recycling their waste.
“There are some things that are just plain not recyclable,” he said. “My favorite examples are Q-Tips and light bulbs and a lot of plastics.”
Joan Honican, a newly elected City Council member, wants a review of the ordinance that could lead to more options for residents.
An environmental activist, she stresses the importance of having public health regulations. But it’s unfair, she said, that an elderly friend of hers who recycles almost everything should face a garbage charge of nearly $120 a year.
“This is an amazing person,” she said. “She should be getting an award, yet she’s being terrorized by the city.”
, DataTimes