It’s a simple question, really. Why do we, as consumers, foot
the bill for the waste created by manufacturers?
Every time we buy electronics, packaged grocery items or even a
house, the recyclable portions are managed by government agencies
that we, as taxpayers, must support. Manufacturers don’t have to
clean up their mess; we get to do it for them. Sometimes the
packaging is so 19th Century that it can’t be recycled and ends up
in landfills to leach into the air and water as a present for our
grandchildren. Nice.
It’s a simple question, really. Why do we, as consumers, foot the bill for the waste created by manufacturers?
Every time we buy electronics, packaged grocery items or even a house, the recyclable portions are managed by government agencies that we, as taxpayers, must support. Manufacturers don’t have to clean up their mess; we get to do it for them. Sometimes the packaging is so 19th Century that it can’t be recycled and ends up in landfills to leach into the air and water as a present for our grandchildren. Nice.
Gilroy city staff is looking at proposing an ordinance that would require construction projects over a certain size to show proof to the city that they recycled 50 percent of the waste from their projects. Under provisions of AB 939, cities are obligated by the state to divert 50 percent of material they dump into landfills.
It’s a good idea. As the population grows, the amount of land available to use as dumps diminishes. It’s grade-school economics.
With state law looming over the heads of cities, assuming there is any cost-benefit analysis to consider before implementing such a plan is uninformed at best and at worst is willfully ignorant of the challenges facing cities.
And before the knees jerk in response, think before you assume that the requirement would add more cost to housing. According to the building industry’s own numbers (Lee Evans Group survey, 2004) average profits for builders have risen from 4.90 percent in 1994 to 8.77 percent in 2002. Some high-end builders in the same survey report profits topping 35 percent.
Housing costs in this state are driven to some degree by supply and demand, as well as materials costs. But how many of you still have doubts that speculation in the real-estate market isn’t playing a significant role in driving prices to ridiculous levels? There’s money to be made, and pointing fingers at a recycling program as an impetus for rising home prices is disingenuous.
Instead of piling all the unused materials into a locomotive-sized dumpster, the fix would be to use multiple containers for recyclable materials such as lumber, metals, plastics and concrete.
“A lot of cities in Santa Clara County are already going in this direction, so a lot of developers are already used to this if they build in other cities,” said Lisa Jensema, Environmental Programs Director for the City of Gilroy.
In other words, we’re not asking builders to take on any undue burden. We’re simply suggesting they pick up after themselves.
