On Sept. 10, the Summit County Board of County Commissioners voted to implement pay-as-you-throw through a 17-page ordinance. An ordinance which was touted as necessary in order to extend the life of the Summit County Resource Allocation Park, but in reality, it just allows local leaders to “check a box” while actual benefits are murky at best.

The price will be high for this ordinance. Homeowners in Frisco and Breckenridge currently under pay-as-you-throw have reported rates doubling or more. My small, locally owned carrier is reporting that it could drive them out of business. For the corporate carriers that do survive, look out for twice as many diesel-belching trucks clogging our roads. And there are concerns that excess trash during holidays and family visits will end up disposed of in non-neighborly or environmental ways. Finally, bears could be the largest victim, as cash-strapped families economize on less-secure cans (like those offered by Waste Management); or overfill small cans where the lid doesn’t close (which is a violation of the ordinance, and you will be reported by your hauler). Haven’t we seen enough photos of bears posing next to open Waste Management cans on One Man’s Junk?

Was there an alternative to help extend the life of Summit County Resource Allocation Park? I suggested relaxing the requirements of ordinance 2A, implemented in 2017, to allow some percentage of county trash to be diverted to other landfills. That ordinance requires 100% of trash in the county to be dumped at Summit County Resource Allocation Park. Unfortunately, that suggestion was deemed “morally reprehensible” by commissioner Eric Mamula. Twenty-one counties in Colorado do not have a landfill (including nearby Park, Grand, and Clear Creek). Are they morally bankrupt? To me, putting undue strains on the community and wildlife to “check a box” has its own moral issues.