In October of 2002, Seattle’s city council voted to make the definition change, which bars all other firms from hauling material generated at construction and demolition sites unless it is “90 percent recyclable.”
Previously, independent haulers could handle mixed C&D, with many sending it to recycling centers in the environmentally-conscious town. Some recycling advocates fear the change will reduce recycling. Dave Whitley of C&D recycling company ReNu, a part of demolition contracting firm Nuprecon, gives three reasons why his company opposes the law:
• The 90 percent rule, which is supposedly based on Washington State guidelines, “is not easily achievable”
• There is no definition of what is recyclable, making it difficult to determine whether a load passes or fails the 90 percent rule;
• The material is not tracked by any government agency once it is hauled away by one of the two franchised firms, so bins with 90 percent recyclable material can still go to a landfill.
The lawsuit challening the 90 percent rule has been filed by the Seattle chapter of the Institute for Justice on behalf of Joe Vantenbergs, owner of Kendall Trucking, and one of his clients, Ron Haider of Haider Construction.
Currently the city is just beginning to enforce the law, with violations resulting in fines of up to $5,000 and sentences of up to one year in jail.