# How do they fine you for not recycling? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 14, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-fine-you-for-not-recycling/612824 "2012-02-14T17:26:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Postariti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Postariti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Postariti)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-fine-you-for-not-recycling/612824/21 "2012-02-15T07:47:30Z")
> [@Renee](#): > > You can recycle cat litter? What? Am I the only one who’s never heard of that? I can’t even imagine how that works. I wondered about this too. According to the article, she’s making her own litter out of shredded paper. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-fine-you-for-not-recycling/612824/22 "2012-02-15T08:22:38Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > But I’ve never been bothered by anyone regarding all the crap I throw into my regular garbage. The daily newspaper, at least a case of beer bottles and a case of soda cans a week, cat litter, NG computer monitors, old VCR’s and other electronics, etc. Consider yourself bothered, then. What’s the matter with you? Do you have some sort of physical or mental disability that prevents you from putting easily recognizable objects in the correct bin? ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-fine-you-for-not-recycling/612824/23 "2012-02-15T08:24:01Z")
> [@Postariti](#): > > I wondered about this too. According to the article, she’s making her own litter out of shredded paper. Still strange, though. IME most places which recycle paper ask that it not be contaminated by food; I can’t imagine that they would be OK with contamination by cat feces and urine. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-fine-you-for-not-recycling/612824/24 "2012-02-15T08:40:42Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > My recycle bin can go months without needing to be collected. The sanitation workers apparently couldn’t give a flying intercourse about it, and I’ve never had anyone else do anything about it either. Here in Minneapolis, you get a credit toward your garbage fees if you recycle. So if you don’t have any recycling for several weeks, the collection workers will notice, and the ‘fine’ is that you lose the monthly recycling credit. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-fine-you-for-not-recycling/612824/25 "2012-02-15T09:23:56Z")
In some parts of Australia, the recycling trucks use [cameras](http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/08/2948305.htm?site=widebay) to monitor the contents of each bin as they’re collected. Also [here](http://www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/sitePage.cfm?code=garden-waste-bin) and [here](http://www.ballina.nsw.gov.au/cp_themes/default/page.asp?p=DOC-YCI-20-42-51&c=488#5). In all cases they seem to be monitoring for non-recyclables in the recycling bin, not vice versa. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-fine-you-for-not-recycling/612824/26 "2012-02-15T17:43:25Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Here in Minneapolis, you get a credit toward your garbage fees if you recycle. So if you don’t have any recycling for several weeks, the collection workers will notice, and the ‘fine’ is that you lose the monthly recycling credit. In the suburbs of Minneapolis, I pay extra to have recycling pick up. I actually pay more, per pickup, for the recycling than for garbage, and I’ve got a big garbage can. I’ve wondered about that. They are selling my recyclable, AND I’m paying them to pick them up seperately. I do it because I think it’s the right thing to do, but it still annoys me. ---
**Author:** ![poortrasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ba0ec/32.png) [@poortrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/poortrasher)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-fine-you-for-not-recycling/612824/27 "2014-11-11T16:11:49Z")
Ok I am all for recycling, however my concern is and this is true, that you pay for the service, pay for the can, pay for water to wash the cans etc. because you have to and remove the labels, (we have to remove the labels in Florida)then they sell it and make billions of dollars! So I see the recycling, and I see it perhaps saving a scrap of the environment, but the “Green Part”??? goes into who’s pocket? And we are going to be fined, inspected, watched, checked, go through our garbage? ---
**Author:** ![SuperAbe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@SuperAbe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperAbe)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-fine-you-for-not-recycling/612824/28 "2014-11-11T16:31:48Z")
> [@poortrasher](#): > > Ok I am all for recycling, however my concern is and this is true, that you pay for the service, pay for the can, pay for water to wash the cans etc. because you have to and remove the labels, (we have to remove the labels in Florida)then\*\* they sell it and make billions of dollars\*\*! So I see the recycling, and I see it perhaps saving a scrap of the environment, but the “Green Part”??? goes into who’s pocket? And we are going to be fined, inspected, watched, checked, go through our garbage? Um… citation, please, for making billions of dollars on recycling (unless you mean worldwide, then…sure :rolleyes:). Usually the “payoff” for waste removal “users” is in lower fees: by recovering some costs through recycling “profits”, the overall cost of trash removal is less. In addition, most folks don’t like having enormous landfills nearby - less waste, fewer landfills. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-fine-you-for-not-recycling/612824/29 "2014-11-11T17:02:42Z")
In NYC , our trash is picked up by the city and there are sanitation police whose duties include checking for recycling violations (as well as other violations) . They often can find the violations because they are obvious ( the glass or metal or paper can be seen through the white kitchen bag ) but they have also been known to slit open bags and check. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-fine-you-for-not-recycling/612824/30 "2014-11-11T18:00:35Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > In NYC , our trash is picked up by the city and there are sanitation police whose duties include checking for recycling violations (as well as other violations) . They often can find the violations because they are obvious ( the glass or metal or paper can be seen through the white kitchen bag ) but they have also been known to slit open bags and check. Do NYC apartment buildings have garbage chutes? Do they fine the property manager (who presumably spreads the fine around all the tenants) for infractions of recycling rules? We don’t have similar fine-able offenses up here (at least in Edmonton), but I just can’t picture how I as an individual living in an apartment building with a garbage chute being caught not recycling if such rules were promulgated. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-fine-you-for-not-recycling/612824/31 "2014-11-11T18:33:21Z")
> [@Canadjun](#): > > Do NYC apartment buildings have garbage chutes? Do they fine the property manager (who presumably spreads the fine around all the tenants) for infractions of recycling rules? > > We don’t have similar fine-able offenses up here (at least in Edmonton), but I just can’t picture how I as an individual living in an apartment building with a garbage chute being caught not recycling if such rules were promulgated. I don’t live in an apartment, but apartment buildings have a designated space to collect recyclables and the management is required to inform the tenants of the recycling rules and where recycling is to be placed. The building owner\* gets the fine (except in the situation where a piece of mail with the tenant’s address is found in the regular trash) and depending on the size of the building might either just account for it as the cost of doing business when it’s time for the rent to go up or directly charge the tenant ( if for example the apartment is in an owner-occupied two family and the landlord knows it wasn’t from his or her apt) - the ticket is not written to a name- it’s written to the "owner of the property at ", just like parking tickets are written to the “owner or operator” of a car with a certain license plate number. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-fine-you-for-not-recycling/612824/32 "2014-11-11T20:45:03Z")
> [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#): > > In the suburbs of Minneapolis, I pay extra to have recycling pick up. I actually pay more, per pickup, for the recycling than for garbage, and I’ve got a big garbage can. I’ve wondered about that. They are selling my recyclable, AND I’m paying them to pick them up seperately. I do it because I think it’s the right thing to do, but it still annoys me. Since it’s zombified anyway and nobody addressed this… The costs of separate collection, sorting, maintaining the sort facility, etc generally make recyclable material pickup quite a bit more expensive per ton than non-recycled trash. Recycling is a net financial loss to the solid waste processors. In most places that’s made up by tax dollars in some way that subsidize the programs. It sounds like in this case that subsidy is non-existent or too small to pay to make up the difference so the extra costs get based on in direct fees. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-fine-you-for-not-recycling/612824/33 "2014-11-11T21:02:29Z")
> [@Canadjun](#): > > Do NYC apartment buildings have garbage chutes? Do they fine the property manager (who presumably spreads the fine around all the tenants) for infractions of recycling rules? The problem in most apartment buildings is that they have only 1 chute for garbage, and none for recycling. So people have to carry that down, which is inconvenient and often doesn’t get done. Some apartments have dealt with this by telling tenants to use white bags for garbage & black/green ones for recycling, and put either down the chute, but that still requires someone to eventually sort them out at the bottom of the chute. ---
**Author:** ![Eightdeadangels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4da419/32.png) [@Eightdeadangels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eightdeadangels)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-fine-you-for-not-recycling/612824/34 "2014-11-11T21:23:35Z")
Don’t know how true this is, at this stage it’s just an unsubstantiated rumour and I really don’t like dealing in those, so I actually thought long and hard before posting, but I will follow this up with some contacts and see if I can get confirmation on any of this… Here goes… The rumour is: Clive Palmer has money to spend in the upcoming election! We all know he loves a cheap publicity stunt but word on “the street is”, he will have short people hiding in the actual wheelie bins, I heard possible dwarf employment opportunities, & to really catch the unsuspecting recycle bandits, homeless people will be issued with a badge and a fine notebook to issue “on the spot fines” of $250.00 With only 6 weeks to Xmas, it really looks like the Homeless and Dwarfs are really going to cream it!! ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-fine-you-for-not-recycling/612824/35 "2014-11-11T21:26:03Z")
We have two wheelie bins and they are collected alternately on Tuesday mornings. The bin men can refuse a bin that is filled to overflowing, but in practice they are fairly tolerant. Since my bin is rarely more than half full, my neighbour, who has three children, often puts some of theirs into mine. There is no penalty for putting the wrong stuff in the wrong bin except for our consciences. We do not pay separately for refuse collection as the cost comes from local taxation (Community Charge) ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-fine-you-for-not-recycling/612824/36 "2014-11-11T21:27:04Z")
We have two wheelie bins and they are collected alternately on Tuesday mornings. The bin men can refuse a bin that is filled to overflowing, but in practice they are fairly tolerant. Since my bin is rarely more than half full, my neighbour, who has three children, often puts some of theirs into mine. There is no penalty for putting the wrong stuff in the wrong bin except for our consciences. We do not pay separately for refuse collection as the cost comes from local taxation (Community Charge) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-fine-you-for-not-recycling/612824/37 "2014-11-11T21:39:32Z")
Our municipality has a recycling goal (I believe at one point it was 40% of all the volume of trash, but it’s a figure that can go up and down.) If we as a community don’t reach that goal, the municipality gets hit with a surcharge. What would happen at that point is anyone’s guess (probably they’d just pass the surcharge along to the customersw) but I suppose the trash police could be a possibility. Fortunately, as a community we’ve been into recycling for a couple of decades, so it’s pretty well ingrained. ---
**Author:** ![No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-fine-you-for-not-recycling/612824/38 "2014-11-13T01:01:11Z")
The city where the rest of my family lives will refuse to pick up the garbage at a given address on a 2nd violation of recyclables in the trash (monthly fee). What I don’t understand is how someone is supposed to deal with something repulsive, like a snuff spit can. Since we pay per trashcan, and recyclables are free, we don’t mess up too often. However, I still think that the water used to clean peanut butter jars (and similar) is a larger detriment to the environment. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-fine-you-for-not-recycling/612824/39 "2014-11-13T01:10:14Z")
I don’t have a cite, as it was a personal communication, but several years ago I heard from a wastestream guy in Melbourne, who said it’s actually more efficient nowadays to return to single-stream waste management - that it’s cheaper to remove recyclables from the trash than to send around a dedicated truck collecting them. The problem is, people hate the idea. They’ve been conditioned to recycle, they want to DO something to save the environment, small as it may be, and not separating recyclables is anathema to them. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-fine-you-for-not-recycling/612824/40 "2014-11-13T01:35:25Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > I don’t have a cite, as it was a personal communication, but several years ago I heard from a wastestream guy in Melbourne, who said it’s actually more efficient nowadays to return to single-stream waste management - that it’s cheaper to remove recyclables from the trash than to send around a dedicated truck collecting them. The problem is, people hate the idea. They’ve been conditioned to recycle, they want to DO something to save the environment, small as it may be, and not separating recyclables is anathema to them. If that’s true, the obvious solution is to give the people a pretty blue can to put their recyclables in, and then empty the can in the same truck as the rest of the garbage. But I find it hard to believe that paper doesn’t get ruined being mixed in with the other garbage. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-fine-you-for-not-recycling/612824.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-fine-you-for-not-recycling/612824.md?page=3)