Recycling crackdown to begin

Nate Bolden loves to see garbage. It doesn't matter if it's soggy or rancid — just as long as it's not mixed with paper or cardboard.

Bolden is an inspector for the city of Seattle and after the new year starts on Sunday, he'll start issuing fines to businesses that violate the city's law by mixing their recyclables with ordinary trash.

Seattle's law requires businesses and residents to recycle paper and cardboard. Residents must also put aluminum and tin cans and glass and plastic bottles in recycling bins. The rules, aimed at moving Seattle closer to its "green" goals, took effect in 2005. After educating the public for a year, the city will start cracking down on scofflaws in 2006.

Bolden, other inspectors and waste haulers will eyeball the contents of garbage containers. If more than 10 percent of the contents appears to be filled with recyclable materials, inspectors will give businesses and apartment and condo buildings a warning. After three warnings, they'll get a $50 fine.

Single-family homes will not face fines. Instead, they will be punished by not having their garbage picked up for a week.

"I'll be frank. I prefer not to write tickets. I prefer to educate people about the environmental benefits" of recycling, Bolden said, peering into a garbage container in a downtown alley.

"This is what I want to see," he added, pointing to a load that looked paper-and-cardboard free.

Inspectors aren't out to "stick it to anybody" and fines aren't expected to make money for the city, said Brett Stav, a Seattle Public Utilities spokesman. Instead, the new law is meant to boost the Emerald City's recycling rate, which stands just below 40 percent and far short of the city's goal of 60 percent by 2010.

Attaining that goal could save Seattleites as much as $2 million a year in the cost of burying garbage in an eastern Oregon landfill, Stav said. Cities such as Honolulu and Philadelphia have mandatory recycling rules similar to Seattle's, he said.

Seattle spent $450,000 this year trying to convince people that recycling is worthwhile. The education campaign included radio, TV and newspaper ads, surveys and focus groups, video games, posters and mail inserts. Inspectors and trash haulers also left warning tags — printed in seven languages — for businesses and residents who put out rubbish containing recyclables.

The education effort seemed to work. The city's latest analysis showed a 5 percent increase in residential recycling and a 5 percent decrease in the amount of trash Seattle haulers picked up from businesses, Stav said.

Bolden still expects to encounter lawbreakers. In 2005 inspectors found roughly one in 10 trash cans contained an illegal amount of paper and cardboard.

"I do think a few folks might get nailed, but it's not something we're overly concerned about," said Rod Kauffman, president of the Building Owners and Managers Association of Seattle and King County. "I think Seattle wants to use a padded glove, not a club, once enforcement starts."

Mandatory recycling adds a little to the cost of operating a building, Kauffman said, estimating it might increase janitorial bills by 10 percent. Landlords would probably "be eating the costs," he said, because of the vacancy rate in Seattle's office-building market.

Jim Nell, executive director of the Rental Housing Association of Puget Sound, said he doesn't expect an uproar from the 4,000 apartment-building owners his group represents.

"We haven't gotten any indication there will be a problem. The city has been working to educate landlords and tenants," Nell said. "Still, we'll cross our fingers and hope for the best next month."

Bob Young: 206-464-2174 or byoung@seattletimes.com