Many cities in the U.S require recycling, but San Francisco has this week become the first to require the additional effort of having food scraps composted.

This whole “mandate on recycling” thing annoys me. Now, I’m not one for destroying the Earth. I grew up in the 90s, and the regular brainwashing I received from watching Captain Planet every Saturday morning has stuck with me. I just get a bit squeamish when recycling mutates from being a freedom to a requirement.

Legislation on what one does with his own purchased possessions gives me images of a tyrannical nanny-state. I mean, just look at this quote:

“Every residence and business in the city will be expected to have 3 different color-coded bins to separate their trash…”

This sounds like something out of Brave New World. And how much space will these bins take up? I think a person should have the freedom to choose not to recycle. Does that make me an Earth-hater?

“The purpose behind the mandate was to encourage businesses and residents who currently don’t recycle to start participating.”

You don’t encourage people to do something by fining them. A fine is nothing more than intimidation. You encourage by offering a reward. If the city wants to encourage recycling, it should offer a monetary reimbursement for recycling. Fining a man for not separating his banana peels from his ruined socks is less liable to invoke a change of heart concerning recycling than a nice little check.

There is money in recycling, which most don’t know about. A recent study showed that recycling in the U.S. is an industry with $236 billion in annual sales. That is money that should be partially going to the people who provide the materials for recycling. Giving the consumer a sliver of this pie will encourage them to recycle, if recycling is really that important to the State.

“The potential for fines is meant to increase awareness and add a sense of urgency to the matter.”

Rather, I think the potential for fines is a way for the State to squeeze even more money out of the taxpayer. I mean think about it—they are fining you for not giving them free raw materials by which to make an industry-wide yearly profit of $236 billion. What if the logging industry managed to ring the state into fining you for not giving them the fallen trees on your property? Will this new compost law deal with yard waste like lawn trimmings as well? How much control are we going to give the government over our own property?

JOIN US

In the end, it is just about recycling, and I suppose we all should recycle—at least, that is the mantra we have been spoon fed for the past twenty years. Let’s just hope it doesn’t move beyond recycling any time soon.

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