Sacramento Bolsheviks Hire Recycling Police for ‘Curbside Trash Bin Inspections’

Sacramento is conducting curbside trash bin inspections to enforce California’s organics recycling mandate. Really. Yet, as the Globe reported in January, California’s Recycling Agency doesn’t really recycle the items we as consumers are charged extra for and required to separate out from trash into the recycle bins. According to a report from CalRecycle, only 1% of milk jugs and 2% of certain plastic material is recycled. California dumps the rest into landfills.

Many home owners report that the same waste management truck picks up their garbage and their recyclables.

But it’s the realization from the report that legislating mandatory recycling is disingenuous as there are limited options for disposing certain materials.

“CalRecycle withdrew proposed SB 54 regulations from the Office of Administrative Law’s review, noting planned revisions related to packaging for food and agricultural commodities,” WasteDive reported.

“California has not figured out how to reduce single-use plastic, the Los Angeles Times reported in January.

Senate Bill 54, by Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2022, and was billed by Sen. Allen as “The most comprehensive measure in the nation to address the plastic waste crisis.” His bill established the “Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act,” which placed the responsibility for costs of the new program on the packaging producers rather than the local communities who pay for waste management and recycling.

According to CalRecycle, Senate Bill 54 requires 25% reduction in single-use plastic packaging, 65% recycling rate for covered plastics, and 100% of such packaging must be recyclable or compostable, the Globe just reported in June.

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers is leading a coalition of 17 republican state attorneys general, and the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors in suing California over Senate Bill 54, the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act.

The law was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in ⁠2022. It requires plastics producers to ​reduce single-use plastic for packaging and food service items by 25%, and ensure ​that all such items are recyclable or compostable by 2032.

You can see the problem, and reason for the lawsuit, which accuses California of trying to “impose its own policy preferences on the ​entire nation” with the plastic packaging law.

California claims the state law addresses plastic pollution overwhelming waterways, oceans, and landfills, shifting costs from taxpayers and local governments to producers and encouraging innovation in sustainable materials.

That’s just one problem with recycling legislation.

Another is Senate Bill 1383, by then-Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Los Angeles), a California law signed in 2016 by Democrat Governor Jerry Brown aimed at “reducing short-lived climate pollutants, primarily methane emissions from organic waste in landfills.” Implementation ramped up in 2022.

According to CalRecycle, SB 1383 compliance penalties are enforced by local cities and counties, with CalRecycle overseeing. Enforcement emphasizes education first, with penalties escalating for repeat violations.

• First violation: $50–$100 per violation
• Second violation (same issue within 1 year of the first penalty): $100–$200 per violation
• Third or subsequent violations (within 1 year of the most recent penalty): $250–$500 per violation

“Sacramento residents may have their trash, mixed recycling, and organic waste bins inspected this month as part of a city effort to comply with state law and reduce methane emissions caused by organic waste in landfills,” KCRA reports.

“The city says the inspections are required under SB 1383, a state law mandating local jurisdictions to take steps to reduce methane emissions caused by short-lived climate pollutants. Crews will check containers across Sacramento to track whether residents are sorting their organic waste properly.”

Sacramento residents can expect to see the trash police inspecting trash cans.

This isn’t the first time Sacramento residents have been subjected to ridiculous mandates and secret police tactics.

In 2012 I reported that the City of Sacramento sent out a notice encouraging residents to attend a water conservation training session and “how to help your neighbor’s [sic] save water by becoming a Water Conservation Ambassador,” the notice said.

Apparently by attending a water conservation workshop, attendees could be certified “City of Sacramento Water Conservation Ambassadors.” We asked if a badge came with the title?

“Water Conservation Ambassadors will help spread the word about water conservation and protection of our water sources,” the city’s website stated. “Ambassadors will help educate neighbors, friends, family and community organizations about conservation through attending community events, conducting knock and talks, and presenting at community meetings!”

Were neighbors being encouraged to educate, or re-educate? This is a recurring theme with the City of Sacramento.

Residents who water the lawn on the wrong day, use the fireplace without approval from the county, have fat children, drive a gas guzzler, ride a bicycle without a helmet, eat shark fin soup, wear fur, or violate the Babysitter’s Bill of Rights, are all subjected to steep fines, or even arrest.

The issue isn’t water conservation or plastics recycling; the real issue is submission: the government needs you to submit to their policies, legitimate or not.

In the Soviet Union, citizens were encouraged to rat out neighbors for hiding food or other necessary goods. In Nazi Germany, people were encouraged to rat out neighbors for protecting or hiding Jews.

The issue can’t really be water conservation or proper recycling. Sacramento is located on two major rivers, so abundant water isn’t a crisis, and everyone has seen the exposés showing that California recycling is a bad joke.

SB 54 was nothing more than very expensive climate-changey woo-woo that accomplishes nothing other than to shake down business owners by lawmakers who have never signed the front of a check.

“Reports on abysmally low rates of recycling for milk cartons and polystyrene have been widely shared and known,” the LA Times reported. “But the newest numbers were still a grim confirmation that there are few options for dealing with these materials.”

It wasn’t that long ago the California Globe reported CalRecycle Loses $200 Million a Year Due to Bottle Deposit Fraud.

And, CalRecycle Management Paid Bloated Salaries Even as CalRecycle is Dying. “More than 50 percent of the recycling centers around the state are closed while taxpayers are paying $1.1 billion in annual beverage container recycling taxes,” we reported.

Most of the “recycling” in California goes to the landfills. One can only conclude that these bills were a financial shakedown, and the blame will go to CalRecycle – and consumers.