Environmentalism is a religion of the Left, and one they are quite keen to use the Power of the State to convert and/or punish non-believers. Case in point, in Seattle WA … a state so manifestly leftist they have an open revolutionary socialist on their city council … those who sin against Gaia are… literally…. receiving scarlet letters.
In Seattle, wasting food will now earn you a scarlet letter — well, a scarlet tag, to be more accurate.
The bright red tag, posted on a garbage bin, tells everyone who sees it that you’ve violated a new city law that makes it illegal to put food into trash cans.
“I’m sure neighbors are going to see these on their other neighbors’ cans,” says Rodney Watkins, a lead driver for Recology CleanScapes, a waste contractor for the city. He’s on the front lines of enforcing these rules.
Yeah, one of the wonders of progressivism is the way it gives enough power to annoying busybodies to turn them into Der Kommissarr. One can only imagine the horrors that Rodney Watkins daydreams about inflicting on the sinners and heretics who offend Gaia with their filth and defiance.
I have two words for the citizens of the Soviet Socialist State of Seattle: garbage disposal.
Grind everything edible up, run it down the drain, get your Good Obedient Comrade (TM) certification.
Of course, this will doubtless overload Seattle’s antiquated inadequate sewer system, but it’ll keep the Garbage Stormtroopers from kicking in your kitchen door and taking you away to be “re-educated”.
The problem leftists have is they depend on real men to enforce their edicts. While being paid a 6 figure salary to dig through Scott Walkers trash will find willing takers this edict requires commissars to dig through every mans trash. If a neighbor reported me I would cite chain of evidence with a claim she planted it + play gay card”what fat cut off from steaks everyone knows gays don’t eat meat”.
This problem has been cited by Bracken under his Dear Mr Security Agent open letter. In the spirit of “Relax. They’re not going to kill us. They’re going to TRY and kill us. And that is a very different thing.” ― Steve Voake, The Dreamwalker’s Child
http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2009/10/mathematics-of-liberty-one-hundred.html
While I am not a big fan of gov rules these a teachers unioun fought against seem reasonable. Included are wearing underwear, bras but not see through clothing.
http://news.yahoo.com/state-takes-over-arkansas-school-district-had-teachers-143143692.html
Philly and NJ cops targeting white privileged boys shoveling snow.
http://armstrongeconomics.com/2015/01/28/cops-going-after-kids-shoveling-snow-they-want-their-cut/
I would simply as them where scrap food is supposed to go.
The garbage disposal? What if I don’t have one? I’m sure there are still plenty of houses that don’t, and don’t have the electrical connections under the sink to have one installed.
Force them to have it installed? Who’s gonna pay for that? Give me the red sticker instead.
Compost it? Uh huh…and when my yard becomes a haven for raccoons, what then?
And it would not surprise me if they also require residents to recycle. So, I would ask, “Exactly what *is* allowed in the garbage?
This isn’t their first garbage declaration. In the mid ’00’s it was if you put a recycle worthy item in the garbage you’d be fined. I, along with many others, learned that using opaque black trash bags kept the wolves at bay. Verbalizing to others that any attempt to open my garbage would be seen as an attempt at ID theft & that there’d be a lawsuit against the city, previously kept us safe.
I left town permanently after that. (So many reasons.)
It is truly a city of busybodies.
They want people to compost. Which attracts vermin (other than the wiggly left socialists).
“A democratic government may cover the surface of society with a network of small complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate…The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided; men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are continually restrained from acting. Such power does not destroy, but prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes and stupefies people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.” Alexis de Tocqueville, Demoracy in America. 1840.
I would consider the red tag on my garbage can to be a badge of honor and I would be proud to show it off to my neighbors.
Let me see if I have this right;
Bottle and cans go in the recycle bin.
Food-scraps go in the garbage bin
Trash goes in the trash bin.
Newspapers and clean boxes go in the newspaper bin.
Yard clippings and leaves to in the special plastic bags with the paid yard-waste-stickers on.
The lid of the pizza-box goes in the trash bin.
The rest of the box goes in the paper bin.
The waxy-paper the pizza was on goes in the trash bin.
The leftover pizzas-crusts (the best part) go in the garbage bin.
The used paper-napkins go in the trash bin
The clean, unused paper napkins go in the paper bin.
The unwanted green peppers go in the garbage bin.
The empty 2-ltr. Coke goes in the bottle and cans bin,
— but the red plastic twist-off lid goes in the trash bin,
— unless they separate plastic and glass jars and bottles from metal cans in which-case the red cap goes in the cans bin,
— unless it has a paper-sticker price-tag in which-case it goes in trash bin.
— however if the sticker in on the bottle, it can still go in the bottle bin.
And don’t even get me started on that case of beer….
It says in the article that the city already provides everyone with free composting, complete with a separate bin to put food and yard clippings in so that it can be picked up by the garbage men and taken to a central composting yard. Apparently a lot of people don’t bother separating compostable and non-compostable waste into the provided bins, and hence the “red badge of shame.”
I have some doubts as to whether the “free composting” scheme is either cost-effective or a huge environmental boon, but as long as the city’s offering it, I can see why they’d want to encourage compliance.
Free composting means an extra bin to put on your property & not everyone is down with recycling or separating trash, considering that to be the garbage man’s job. Some people do, some people don’t. Personally, I don’t. I don’t willingly make money for other people unless they’re paying me.
Perhaps, if I was anal retentive, I would comply.
There are no more real Americans.
If there were, there would be vast areas of Seattle where every single trash can would be sporting a scarlet letter.
I’m fine with efforts to reduce that amount of refuse going into landfills (which are a limited resource) but when government gets so big that it inspects trash as part of normal business, it’s too damn big.
One would hope that there was a time when people knew this.
Waste not, want not.
Where can I get one of those red tags? My trash can would feature it proudly! I would illuminate it at night by the light of burning empty water bottles…