There's been a big push in the past few years to give more and more control of our waste management over to the Fort Collins City Government. This can come in the form of "districting" the current trash haulers or creating a city-run utility to pick up garbage. Both have been proposed by overzealous recycling advocates.
This would be destructive to locally-owned family-run businesses. It would inevitably cause higher rates by eliminating competition. It would eliminate your ability to switch vendors if you're unhappy with customer service.
But more ominous, however, would be the amount of control it would give to nanny-state bureaucrats to tell you what you can throw away, how much waste you can produce, and when.
Right now, you can choose what you recycle or compost. Put the City of Fort Collins in charge...
Right now, you can choose the date your trash is picked up. Put the City of Fort Collins in charge...
Right now, if you've got a complaint that's not addressed by your trash hauler, you can switch haulers. They know this, so they're responsive to their customers. Put the City of Fort Collins in charge...
Right now, if you have some friends over and would like an extra pickup, you can call your trash hauler. Put the City of Fort Collins in charge...
So what does it look like when the government can tell you what you can throw away, how much, and when?
WHITEHAVEN, England — The citizens of Whitehaven try, really they do. They separate out their cans, their paper, their cardboard and their glass, and they recycle them all. They compost. They jump up and down on their trash to cram it into their government-issued garbage cans, and they put the trash out for collection at exactly 7 a.m., twice a month.
But when Gareth Corkhill, a bus driver, was fined $215 — and given a further $225 fine and a criminal record when he failed to pay — for leaving his garbage can lid slightly ajar this spring, Whitehaven’s residents banded together in dismay...
Threatened with steep fines if they dump too much trash, local governments around the country are imposing strict regimens to force residents to produce less and recycle more.
Many now collect trash every other week, instead of every week. They restrict households to a limited amount of garbage, and refuse to pick up more. They require that garbage be put out only at strict times, reject whole boxes of recyclables that contain the odd nonrecyclable item and employ enforcement officers who issue warnings and impose fines for failure to comply.
