Seattle sues county over trash cash from recycling centers
SEATTLE - The City of Seattle is suing the county government in a dispute over $3 million worth of trash fees that stem from the recycling system.
The Seattle Times reports Seattle filed a lawsuit Thursday against King County in King County Superior Court in order to resolve a years long dispute over who should be paid for the handling of garbage that ends up in their local recycling programs.
At the heart of the issue is the fact that recycling bins collected by King County outside of Seattle’s jurisdiction are ultimately processed in facilities located inside the city.
The city has handled 1,980 tons of "recyclable residuals" — or trash that ends up in the recycling bin that is not recyclable — for the county. That garbage must be taken to the landfill and both the city and county charge the recycling facilities to dump that trash.
The two sides have been splitting the money in half since February, but Seattle wants all of it.
The Seattle City Attorney’s Office and the King County Department of Natural Resources issued a joint statement on the lawsuit, saying that the two agencies share a commitment to the environment but that they needed the court to settle this dispute.
"(I)n this matter, there are conflicting code language interpretations that require independent review," the two sides said. "After considerable good faith conversations, Seattle and King County concluded a neutral, third-party decision maker was needed to provide clarity and resolve the difference in the interpretation of each jurisdictions’ regulations."
The city claims the state constitution, state law, and city and county codes indicate that waste disposal within a city is the realm of the city, regardless of whether the waste may have originated from outside the city.
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