My First Visit from the Trash Inspector.

   / My First Visit from the Trash Inspector. #51  
The problem is bureaucracy. The problem with bureaucracy is bureaucrats.

Clearly there have to be reasonable and rational laws regarding waste disposal. It is for the greater good of the locale and the society. This is true of many aspects of society and the laws that govern us.

But the bureaucratization of the law is where it all falls apart. Bureaucrats rarely have any level of practical experience or expertise in the area in which they are laying down rules. So they make bad rules. Consistently and predictably. The law of unintended consequence is always the consequence of bureaucratization. The consequences may be unintended but they are still predictable. So predictably, things go wrong. And here is where it breaks down. When things go wrong, NO ONE holds the bureaucrats responsible and invariably they ask the same bureaucrats who created the problem to solve it. This process has been repeated for decades in this country. The result is an infinite regression in practicality and function and an infinite increase in ineffective laws and rules that create more problems than they solve. Subsequently it makes bad people worse and turns well intentioned people into rule breakers. The answer to this conundrum is the imposition of increasingly onerous fines and penalties the burden of which invariably falls on those who are actually trying to follow the misguided rules.

Big government = big bureaucracy. See above for results. Solution: smaller government as intended by the document that constituted our government in the first place. Those guys were pretty smart and their brilliance defies relativism.
 
   / My First Visit from the Trash Inspector. #52  
An example:

I work in a medical clinic. Exam rooms have two trash cans. One regular, one biohazard. There are also containers for 'sharps' such as needles, scalpels etc.

For years we were told that any blood, excrement or body fluid went in the biohazard can. This, we were told, meant even Kleenex with snot in it. We were told that every infraction found on inspection would result in a $15,000 fine. We were told that all exam gloves had to go in the biohazard box regardless of what they were used for and even if they had no body fluids, blood or excrement on them. There would be $15,000 fines for every glove found in the regular trash. (This is what we were told by our staff person who was briefed by the government agency. I cannot say with certainty if all of this was actually true.)

Now, this bureaucratic over-reaction sounds okay on the surface. But it resulted in way more stuff going into biohazard bins than needed to. There is no reason to put a Kleenex with snot in it into a biohazard box. There is no reason to put an unsoiled exam glove in a biohazard bin. The volume of biohazard trash was unmanageable and it was increasing healthcare cost.

So the bureaucrats responded. The last time we were briefed we were told to put nothing in the biohazard box unless it was dripping with blood, body fluid, purulence or excrement. Soiled feminine hygiene products were to go in the regular trash. All gloves, unless dripping in fluid, were to go in the regular box. Fines for not following these new rules? Of course. $15,000 per occurrence.

This sort of idiocy can only be perpetrated by groups of people who have no idea what they are doing but who are given authority to do it. There is no room for common sense, individual responsibility or discretion.

Reminds me of the definition of meetings: Meetings: None of Us is as Dumb as All of Us.
 
   / My First Visit from the Trash Inspector.
  • Thread Starter
#53  
Deal with this all the time...

Feminine Hygiene products from the public restrooms go into regular trash... if it comes for the Hospital side it was Bio-hazard and now it is supposed to be classified as Pathogen Waste...

There is a big storm brewing locally against the city and Waste Management... the rates are set to go up 20% again and the problem is the city made a closed door Franchise Agreement to get a 30% cut of the mandatory garbage fees...

So every increase is more money to the city... no chance to opt out unless the property is an unimproved vacant parcel... so even folks with a zero lot line city property must still have yard waste service no matter if the property is vacant or occupied.

Years ago a very wise man said if you want to understand the hows and whys... FOLLOW THE MONEY
 
   / My First Visit from the Trash Inspector. #54  
ultrarunner said:
Years ago a very wise man said if you want to understand the hows and whys... FOLLOW THE MONEY
Click to expand...

When I was in the USAF living on the Florida panhandle, the county contracted with a single private waste management company and you had no choice of whether to use them or not. In fact, you actually paid them as an add on to your water bill. You could not elect not to have trash service. This lead to a number of problems. First, since they were a monopoly they had no competition. This meant that they might show up on the right day or they might not. On trash day they'd throw your cans in the street. Run over your can. And if they spilled anything they did not pick it up. Our street looked like a dump on trash day. They also would not pick up anything other than household trash. Anything else you had to take to the dump.

The second problem is that this company owned the landfill. No county boxes or facilities at all. They charged outrageous fees for individual access to the dump. It would cost a ridiculous amount of money to take a mattress or broken appliance to the dump.

Other than the base and the tourist stuff along the beach this was a very rural and generally poor county. So what did the locals (and many USAF personnel I'm sure) do with the stuff the trash company wouldn't pick up? Yep, dumped it in the woods. That county was the most trash covered place I've ever seen in otherwise pretty pristine pinelands. It was just one long trail of old furniture, appliances and yard trash and mattresses.
 
   / My First Visit from the Trash Inspector.
  • Thread Starter
#55  
Daily I see new piles of trash I'm sure were pushed out of pickups in the dead of night... all manor of trash... the disposal fees for mattress/boxspring is quite high.

The Franchise Trash Collector has a sweet deal because the city pays all delinquent bills and surcharges and then starts the lien process with no judicial oversight.

I had a disaster once where someone had dumped a load in front of an empty home that was available to rent...

The charge was over $400 plus legal...

Thankfully I had reported the illegal dumping and filed a police report prior to pickup... the police report was enough to cancel the charges but is was still difficult... I stressed that nothing was more important to making sure I was not charged for something I did not do and if forced to pay under protest my next stop was small claims court where I would produce the police report and summon the officer to appear.

Big money in trash and getting bigger all the time.
 
   / My First Visit from the Trash Inspector. #56  
Greed + Bureaucracy. Worst combo ever.

When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.
* - P. J. O'Rourke
 
   / My First Visit from the Trash Inspector. #57  
You need to move into the country and leave the bureaucracy behind you.

I live within 20 miles of Univ. of Florida and I wouldn't give 10 cents for any property within the city limits.

They're all as crazy as your government up there in Washington.

People are moving out of the city in droves to get away from just such craziness!
 
   / My First Visit from the Trash Inspector.
  • Thread Starter
#58  
The SF Bay Area and Olympia do have a lot in common...

My next move will definitely be in the county... and not planning on any HOA areas.

Brother kind of has the best of both worlds... a small patch of county with city limit on one side a park preserve on the others... so he gets good rates with fire hydrants and city services though not in the city...

Been looking at property and found some nice homes... in very hot and tinder dry California...
 
   / My First Visit from the Trash Inspector. #59  
I earlier posted that we have a 3 bin system all on different days.
Also fines are levied if bins left out and if wrong trash in the bin.

OK, our city did one smart thing; they placed a re cycle bin at every mail box center (no longer have home delivery) so that we could trash fliers and other junk mail 'at the site'.
Well, you guessed it, empty bottles and food waste now finds its way into the paper re cycle bin.

Making it worse some folks (pigs) seem to simply fling the trash out of the car window as they pass by counting on somebody to put in the bin.

They no longer collect appliances as box stores will pick them up so if you buy a used one the old gets trashed but never picked up resulting in dumping on vacant lots etc.
Then they stopped collecting tires so one day I found 17 at the end of my driveway.

Every now and then I come across quantities of large bags of cuttings again because they no longer pick up leaves and bundles of dead branches etc.
Then one day I came across 5 large bags of Marijuana clippings, reported that to LEOs who declared not their problem, city also said not theirs and eventually the city grader plowed them away, fortunately not on my property as otherwise I'd have probably rec'd a citation.
 
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   / My First Visit from the Trash Inspector. #60  
PILOON said:
Every now and then I come across quantities of large bags of cuttings again because they no longer pick up leaves and bundles of dead branches etc.
Then one day I came across 5 large bags of Marijuana clippings, reported that to LEOs who declared not their problem, city also said not theirs and eventually the city grader plowed them away, fortunately not on my property as otherwise I'd have probably rec'd a citation.
Click to expand...

You should have burned them. :confused2: :laughing:
 
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