Solid Waste Management: A Tale of Garbage

This is a tale that begins as so many government stories do: with an unelected board of bureaucrats passing expensive, over-reaching regulations without a care in the world about how much they might cost and whose rights they might violate; specifically, the Waste Management District 109 Board. 

The 109 Board, made up of members appointed by the Louisville mayor, is the entity responsible for creating regulations on garbage disposal for all of Jefferson County.

Their rules have applied beyond just those in the old city limits of Louisville, where the city of Louisville takes care of trash pickup. They have also applied to the approximately 80 suburban cities that pay private companies for trash pickup.

Yes, you read that correctly: For years, this unelected board was left alone to regulate the garbage handling in suburban cities where it does not see, touch, pick up, haul, dispose of, or store its citizens’ trash. To illustrate the lunacy of this arrangement, imagine if an unelected board in Kentucky mandated how Hoosiers dispose of solid waste even though Indiana taxpayers are not paying the state of Kentucky to haul away their trash.

But, all this has changed, at least for the moment. 

Thanks to the hero of our story, State Representative Jerry Miller, HB 246 was signed into law.

You might be more familiar with the alias of the bill as it was coined by the liberal media as the “plastic bag” bill. Or, you may know it as part of the so-called “war on Louisville.” 

As they often do, the media missed the larger point here — HB 246 was never about plastic bags, it was always about limiting the law-making power of an unelected board.

The regulation banning the use of plastic bags for yard waste was only the beginning of the much-needed uprising against the 109 Board. A major catalyst was the board’s consideration of mandatory wet/dry garbage separation where the 109 Board would be able to impose civil penalties on anyone who does not separate their garbage and place it in the corresponding mandated receptacle; again, even if the city of Louisville has nothing at all to do with your trash. Austin, TX recently passed a similar mandate and their city officials estimate a cost of $13 million more a year once the mandate is fully implemented.

Thankfully, signing HB 246 into law gives our suburban cities a voice in the regulations governing their waste disposal by granting each city veto power on regulations passed by the 109 Board. Further, it provides more checks and balances by abolishing the current 5-member board and creating a new 7-member, term-limited board that includes a representative from the Jefferson County League of Cities and the Waste Haulers Association.

Sounds like a happy ending, except, this is unfortunately not where the tale ends.

The 109 Board is using the Jefferson County Attorney’s office to sue Kentucky to overturn the law so the unelected bureaucrats can keep regulating garbage they should have no jurisdiction over. So, for the next several months, we get to watch our tax dollars squandered on legal fees so some bureaucrats can hang on to power they should never have had.

While all of us in Jefferson County seem to be at the mercy of the courts, that doesn’t mean we are helpless. Prior to HB 246, Metro Council member Julie Denton introduced a city ordinance prohibiting any mandatory wet/dry program in Jefferson County.

While Councilwoman Denton’s proposed ordinance does not fully roll back the 109 Board’s power, it is a step in the right direction. The legislation is currently in committee and it could pass with your help. A simple call to your Metro Council member could make all the difference.