Law authorizing garbage inspections for composting scofflaws violates privacy rights, judge rules
A judge in Washington state has enjoined garbage-inspection provisions of a Seattle ordinance that bars residents from placing food waste or compostable paper in garbage containers.
Judge Beth Andrus of King County ruled (PDF) on Wednesday, report the Associated Press and the Seattle Times.
Andrus said provisions authorizing inspections of garbage to identify trash scofflaws violate privacy protections in the Washington Constitution, which protects a person’s “private affairs” from government disturbance.
Seattle residents who deposit more than 10 percent of compostable waste in their garbage would have their garbage cans tagged with educational materials under the ordinance. Another provision authorizes $1 collection fees for violators, but none of those challenging the ordinance had ever been fined.
The city had conceded at oral arguments that trash collectors would need a warrant to open and search garbage bags, but contended trash collectors could search for ordinance violations in plain view when garbage is collected.
But Andrus said the fact that some plain-view garbage inspections could be lawful does not defeat the constitutional challenge to the inspection law. “The enforcement provisions of the ordinance and implementing rule, on their face, allow trash collectors to open and search the contents of a resident’s garbage bags, even when food waste or compostable paper is not in plain view,” Andrus said. “The city conceded that such a search would be constitutionally impermissible. Thus, the court must conclude that the enforcement provisions, as currently written, are facially unconstitutional.”
The Pacific Legal Foundation had filed suit on behalf of the plaintiffs challenging the law. The case is Bonesteel v. City of Seattle.
