City bans garbage disposal units (includes fine of up to $25,000 a day - Raleigh, NC)

Politicom ^ | 3/08/08

[Libloather]

City bans garbage disposal units

Residents of Raleigh, N.C., face stiff penalties if they install garbage disposal units in their kitchen sinks or repair existing ones if they break.

The City Council approved the ban on Wednesday, the Raleigh Chronicle reports. The ordinance includes a fine of up to $25,000 a day.

Officials said that anyone caught with an illegal disposal unit could also face a lifetime ban on getting city water. The ban covers several municipalities around Raleigh.

The garbage disposal units, which grind up leftover food and flush it into the sewer system, lead to pipes clogged with grease. That can lead to sewage overflowing into streams or ponds.

Raleigh residents are urged to collect grease in an old can or jar, allow it to harden and put it in the trash.

[Old Professer]

You have a well, you won’t be affected by the regulation changes, you therefore have the luxury of passing along your approval of measures that affect others; is that the way this works?

You should speak with a bit of respect for the group you presume to counsel in order to sound a little less imperious.

[Kay Ludlow]

I like my well water too! Our local waster treatment authority, though, is on the cutting edge of technology, and is working their way toward a "beneficial re-use" system (aka toilet to tap) where they will treat the liquids, run them across the valley in pipes to cool the treated liquid, and inject it back into the aquifer - all in 24 hours. We don't need it here to have sufficient water, we need it because the EPA has limited what can be put back into the streams to some number of gallons a day set back in the 60's and not increased. Since they've forced nearly everyone onto public sewer, most of the water we use ends up going back through the sewer system instead of filtering back through the ground. Consequently, they've reached the 'discharge limit' set by the US government back in the 50's or 60's, and the only way to allow more water use is to find some other way to handle the treated water. They did experiment with using it as spray irrigation, but the EPA also has strong limits on when you can do that (based on weather, temperature, etc) and they figured we'd have to be able to store the liquids for months at a time till the weather was right - and that just isn't feasible. So, instead, we are going to use reverse osmosis for a 24 hour treatment and inject it back into the ground next to the Borough Water Authority wells.

There is some middle ground between the Ganges River and the complete recycling a space station would need, but the EPA is working toward the environmentalists dream of forcing us to only use what we can reuse locally. That's because of the eco-radicals that fill the top jobs there, who think the US should be put back in it's pre-Columbian state...

[Old Professer]

Large commercial version

[Old Professer]

Potato peels and the starch from potatoes themselves are notorious drain pluggers.

[DelphiUser]

Potato peels and the starch from potatoes themselves are notorious drain pluggers.

That is why I used them as an example, feed them in slowly, include a few ice cubes, and Voila, no problem.

[bvw]

It is unwise to diminish our honest claims to rights, by allowing the dupes of victimology to victimhood for no longer being allowed to be freeloaders.

This is a national and even global forum. Anyone who posts here should consider that they are themselves an Emperor of their domain, and not suffer beyond some point the foolishness of neighboring Emperors because such foolishness comes to harm all.

In this case there is a LOCAL agency established by a LOCALLY ELECTED body which is setting reasonable rules LOCALLY for problems that they have with the operation of a LOCAL public conveyance. That such an agency is empowered to operate and set such regulation is LONG established in common law predating the constitution and the colonies. It is like the authority a harbormaster has to set who may enter a harbor and under what conditions.

It may be that the fine they set is excessive, but it is their authority to do so because they are presumed to have expert knowledge on the subject and upon the local conditions of the moment. Hopefully the citizens who protest will find the will to mount an appropriate counter-action if they believe the fine is to high and thus beyond the authority of the agency to set, or even if it is too much for them to bear, no matter what authority the agency would have to set it. Still, it is a solemn duty of the public agency to set the necessary rules, and that is a long established principle under our laws.

Freedom and peace are the fruit of responsibility. If a infant dumps his dinner over the floor, the parent brings peace and freedom by what action? By allowing the infant to continue? "Na-aawwh, na-awwh!" cries the infant, "You are stealing my right to dump my dinner on the floor!"

[SunTzuWu]

Which one of us is right?

Either way the grease still congeals. It just gets farther with hot water. NEVER dump grease down your drain. It's a time bomb waiting to go off. Over time the grease solidifies into somewhat of a cross between taffy and plaster and will soon block the main building drain. I hope you have a good plumber who owes you a favor.

[Revelation 911]

if grease is the problem - why not obligate grease traps in new construction and remodels - it pisses me off because they hit restaurants hard with this stuff, yet nonpoint polluters get by with little or no regulation as to what they slop down the drain - besides - I see a niche opening up there for a veg oil collectors who makes bio diesel - hmmmmmm wonder if any of the board members have a stake ?

[ansel12]

“That is why I used them as an example, feed them in slowly, include a few ice cubes, and Voila, no problem.”

---

Another goofy thing that people do is to dump a pot of rice in the disposal all at once, it doesn’t even make it past the p-trap, sometimes it doesn’t even reach the p-trap.

[nancyvideo]

This story claims UPI as the source. I couldn’t find it searching UPI. Is there a second source to this??

[Old Professer]

Have you ever considered professional help?

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“I hope to never be on town water again.”

I don’t ever want neighbors again either, LOL!

[bvw]

All the time.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Water rationing “for the Earth” is next. The Enviros and their ilk won’t rest until we’re all living in grass huts...or in little shoebox-sized apartments in government-subsidized inner cities.

Of course, just for US, not for the Ruling Class. ;)

[Girlene]

Freedom and peace are the fruit of responsibility. If a infant dumps his dinner over the floor, the parent brings peace and freedom by what action? By allowing the infant to continue? "Na-aawwh, na-awwh!" cries the infant, "You are stealing my right to dump my dinner on the floor!"

I don't need the government to be my parent. Besides, I'm not sure if this town knows what they are talking about when it comes to garbage disposal units. Why are they referring to banning garbage disposers, then bring up grease? Maybe they should have a city wide ban on grease. Here's some info GARBAGE GRINDERS - Garbage Disposal Unit Effects on Public Sewer Systems

While garbage grinders can cause an added loading on conventional, residential, on-site septic systems, their use is not necessarily bad in municipal sewer systems according to some researchers, as indicated in the article abstract quoted below. Other studies of the effects of garbage disposers on municipal sewers have been conducted by various groups including the University of Wisconsin, Delft University Netherlands, and the Cooperative Research Centre, in Sydney, Australia, and the New York City Dept. of Environmental Protection

Most cities served by municipal sewers `in the U.S. permit the use of garbage disposals and some cities require their use. Using a kitchen disposer or grinder in cities served by a municipal sewer reduce the volume of organic waste which otherwise has to be hauled to a landfill. Cities in the U.S. and other countries are inconsistent in their view of the use of garbage disposers. New York City permits their use. Austin Texas has a rebate program to convert garbage disposer use in food service businesses to a scrap bin system.

Garbage Disposers in New York City: New York City, which used to prohibit the use of these devices legalized their use in 1997, out of concern for the increasing volume of garbage in the city, and in the face of inconclusive test results about their effect on the sewer system.

So, before we throw all our rights away, be willing to accept huge fines, further our dependance on nanny state government.....maybe we should realize they don't always know what's going on. Their reasons for controlling their LOCAL population may not be that smart, well-informed, or effective.

[Ditter]

I never put “grease” down my drain, meaning lard, bacon drippings, butter etc, those things are solids. Cooking oil is a different matter. It was liquid before you fried those potatoes and it will be liquid after you pour it down the drain.

The worst thing I ever did to my drain was to wash a rag rug over and over. Strings from the rug went down the drain and even Roto Rooter had trouble getting through.

[bvw]

There is no government. There are only other people. They are just like you.

[kalee]

uh-oh ping.
My mother is going to be very unhappy!
Wonder why her new house has one in it if they are illegal?

[Girlene]

There is no government. There are only other people. They are just like you.

They are not like me. They are people with power to regulate and dictate to others based on a whim, pressure from other groups, or whatever. From Grind sparingly; clock is ticking for disposals

The council has been trying to do this for 10 years in Raleigh. They put it on the agenda quietly (not informing anyone), then passed it unaminously last week. The problem they are having is they are getting fined by the state for overflows.

The disposal issue took on new urgency for the city last summer after the state Division of Water Quality announced it would step up enforcement against systems that experience sewer overflows. The state can fine offenders as much as $25,000 for such spills, and Raleigh has about 50 overflows annually.

It makes no sense to limit garbage disposal units. The problem is grease and an aniquated sewer system. People who pour grease down the sink will do it regardless of the disposals. So in a few years when the problem is still the same, they've punished people for having disposals, what next? It's short-sighted and doesn't fix their problems.

No. Those people are not like me.

[HalleysFifth]

The American home of the future (if the libtards have their way)