Mano a Mano: Yard Waste Redux

In the following interview, Blue Paper columnist Michael Welber interviews former environmental activist Michael Welber. This Welber launched the city of Marathon Green Team in 2007, was a member of what was then called Monroe County’s Green Initiative Task Force, and has written extensively about environmental issues. He wrote recently (https://keywestthenewspaper.com//article/debate-about-yard-waste-incineration-flares-up/) about the county’s plans to burn yard waste instead of shipping it to Broward or composting it here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blue Paper

We’re delighted to have you with us today, Mr. Welber, so we can keep up with the yard waste issue. You certainly have what they call environmental bona fides.

Welber

Damn right I do.

Blue Paper

So, Mr. Welber, do you think pigs will fly in Monroe County?

Welber

Wha??

Blue Paper

We at the Blue Paper have learned that Commissioner George Neugent wrote that pigs will fly in Monroe County before there’s in-vessel composting of yard waste. So, whaddya think?

Welber

Guess that says it all doesn’t it? Neugent seems to have a thorn up his, um, rectum about wanting the county to burn yard waste because it’s cheaper. There might be other reasons too but no one seems to know what they are.

Blue Paper

Aren’t you in favor of keeping taxes low? They raised the solid waste fees just a year or two ago.

Welber

Sure. Who wants to pay the county more money? So they can buy more restaurants? But I’m against waste – personal and governmental. If the county really wants to save money on solid waste why don’t they reduce the number of trash pickup days like they did in Key West?

Blue Paper

Yeah. So how’d that work out? I’ll bet people howled in protest.

Welber

Yes. And then no. According to their solid waste coordinator Will Thompson, “The change to single day trash, yard waste and recycling was initially met with some resistance, but has since been accepted by the people of Key West. The benefits of this program became quickly evident to residents, and it has been many months since we have received any complaints concerning it. It has also worked to triple our residential recycling rates to an average rate of 21%, up from the 7% rate we had before the change to single day collection.”

So take that bubbas.

Blue Paper

Stinking garbage isn’t necessarily a problem eh? Might be other ways for them to save money. Are there?

Welber

Glad you asked. You’re a great interviewer, by the way. An option that no one in government seems to want but works well is called Pay As You Throw or PAYT.

Blue Paper

Sounds bureaucratic and complicated. How the heck would something like that work?

Welber

Way back in 1971 – probably before you were born – we lived in Columbia, Missouri. Every quarter, a pile of plastic bags was tossed in our yard, official city plastic trash bags. That’s what we put our trash in and we got a limited number. Once they were used up we didn’t get more. Some people complained that it wasn’t enough but the man in charge for the city told a friend who was editor of the local paper that the complainers should “fill the [expletive deleted] up.”

Blue Paper

Plastic doesn’t sound so great.

Welber

It isn’t but I’m just saying that it’s not a new, revolutionary idea. People could pay for trash barrel stickers or get county barrels like they do with recycling bins and they would be limited to that amount of trash. If they want to put out more trash they have to pay more, buy more stickers or barrels. It’s not fair to those of us who put out very little trash to have to pay the same or get increased fees just because people accumulate so much crap that they put out three or four barrels a week.

Blue Paper

Wouldn’t people cheat and throw their trash in dumpsters?

Welber

Oh, yeah sure. And people will speed. And drive when drunk. And litter. I’m sick of that stupid argument.

Blue Paper

I understand that you resigned from the county’s climate task force before your term was up. Why did you do that?

Welber

They were really pissing me off.

Blue Paper

I’m hoping we can keep it clean here. We have some young readers.

Welber

Yeah, OK. Well, they weren’t doing anything. Actually doing anything. All they did was talk and talk and talk. The county employees on the Task Force were a real road block to the county taking any action to reduce its impact on our environment. I gave up in frustration.

Blue Paper

But now that group has been reformed as the Climate Change Advisory Committee. Weren’t you asked to be in that group? Why didn’t you take that opportunity to see if you could help move things along?

Welber

Are you fu….

Blue Paper

Please! No profanity.

Welber

Yeah, I get upset. Look at the name: Advisory Committee. In other words, they make recommendations and hope – hope — the county will take action. The group has been pretty well excluded from the decisions that the county will make about yard waste.

Rhonda Haag, the county’s sustainability program manager, was supposed to be presenting an RFP to the BOCC this week for what the county should do about yard waste. She wrote me that she will “explain the current status of the RFP and seek additional guidance from the BOCC on completing it. People have requested to provide input in the contents, including CCAC [Climate Change Advisory Committee] members, so I am seeking approval to include input from them.”

Blue Paper

Input.

Welber

Yeah. Input. You want to see how little they can accomplish. They met recently to discuss the county’s plan to incinerate yard waste and discussed whether they should recommend composting. So what do you think they decided?

Blue Paper

Surprise me.

Welber

No surprise cupcake. Nothing. According to a source, one member questioned the linkage between the committee’s purpose and yard waste recycling. He feels there are bigger “adaptation” fish to fry. Adaptation is not reduction. Sure the county should get ready for the big, big changes coming but it would be kind of fun if they tried to meet their goal of greenhouse gas reduction. But then looking for a 20 percent reduction by 2020 isn’t much of a goal considering that James Hansen and others say that a 50 percent reduction is needed right now.

Blue Paper

Thanks for your time Mr. Welber. We’ll get this into print.

Welber

Yeah sure. You’ll screw it up just like everything else.