Garbage-rate hike complicates plan to charge fee on disposable bags

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and City Council President Richard Conlin aim to push the envelope on a greener and greener city — this time by slapping a 20-cent fee on disposable bags at grocery, drug and convenience stores.

The idea is environmentally friendly and reasonable but the program is not administered in a vacuum. A planned 2009 garbage-rate increase, in part to pay for a new kitchen-waste recycling effort, makes the program more complicated.Here at Do-Gooder Central, most citizens can be talked into a third alternative to the most common question asked in a grocery store: Paper or plastic? Switching to canvas or other reusable bags is a good idea.

Most of us are willing to pay 20 cents for the twin sins of either not complying or forgetting reusable bags at home. Disposable bags take energy to produce, consume landfill space and foul the environment. The hassle of changing our behavior is offset by the environmental benefit.

The problem, however, is the good citizens of Seattle are hit with two sticks. First, they change their behavior or pay the fee, then they get spanked shortly thereafter with a garbage-rate increase.

Nickels says we need to recycle kitchen waste and stop using plastic and paper bags to help the environment. The rub is, citizens are not rewarded. A rate increase pinches an already strapped lower and middle class.

The green fee is expected to generate $10 million, $2 million of which would go toward distributing reusable shopping bags, promoting them, and for other waste-prevention and environmental-education efforts.

A new garbage contract requires the increase in rates. Some bag money will help offset the contract's higher fuel and labor costs. Increased costs also come from weekly, rather biweekly, pickup of yard waste and kitchen scraps. Citizens will not want kitchen waste sitting around more than a week.

The $8 million remaining is not enough to counteract the increased cost of service. The new contract is $20 million higher than the previous one.

Leadership should find a way to make the numbers work better. Seattle is becoming a veryexpensive place to live.

It is the mayor and council president's value to make Seattle a national leader in green issues. Many citizens agree. Another very important value is for Seattle to remain affordable. We really do want regular citizens to be able to live here and manage basic costs.

If the proposal doesn't pencil out, and no other savings can be realized, the city will have to slow down and find a way to make "green" programs more affordable.

Seattleites usually do what is right. They should not feel like they are being penalized for good behavior.