January 3, 2023 |
In Rawlins, the city’s two trash haulers are back at work Tuesday collecting garbage from their customers, at least for now.
Rawlins City Council, in a hastily called emergency meeting Monday evening, granted both Dirty Boyz Sanitation and Wyoming Waste Systems a 24-hour temporary hauling license. At its December 20th meeting, council voted not to deny a one-year renewal for the two haulers.
Both license renewals are on the agenda for tonight’s regular council meeting.
Council denied Wyoming Waste because it failed to submit a required fee by the December 1st deadline. The dispute between the governing body and Dirty Boyz is more complicated and involves the company hauling waste out-of-town in defiance of city ordinances to a landfill in Colorado under the pretense that they are carrying “recyclables.”
As Bigfoot 99 reported previously, the ultimate resolution between Dirty Boyz and the city between will come down to a judicial ruling on the definition of “recyclable” material.
Dirty Boyz acknowledged in a letter to the city that between August and October that it transported waste to a landfill in Erie, Colorado. In the letter, the company representative said it was using a new definition of waste, namely that garbage is a “commodity.” Later the company claimed the solid waste consisted of “recyclables.” By ordinance, trash haulers are required to take solid waste to the city owned transfer station and pay the tipping fees there. Instead, tipping fees were paid to the facility in northern Colorado.
The company’s reasoning is that as the material decomposes, the naturally occurring byproduct of methane gas cane be extracted, captured and used as an alternative energy source.
At Monday night’s emergency meeting Councilman Chris Weisenberg challenged the definition of recyclables that Dirty Boyz is using in apparent violation of the city’s definition of “solid waste” in Chapter 8 of city code.
The Environmental Protection Agency does not use the term recyclable, either, in its Landfill Methane Outreach Program website, which lays out “Basic Information about Landfill Gas.” The widely used term for the process is “waste-to-energy.”
The attorney for Dirty Boyz, Amy Bach, agreed in general terms with Councilman Weisenberg. The definition of recyclables is not clear and will likely be decided by a court.
The attorney’s comments essentially tee-up the basic framework for a legal challenge that is likely to come from the dispute.
Mayor Terry Weickum said the company’s recycling argument doesn’t add up, given that the round-trip distance between Rawlins and the landfill in Colorado is about 332 miles.
Mayor Weickum also explained why he voted “no” on the motion to renew the Dirty Boyz’ trash hauling license at the December 20th meeting.
The motion to renew the Dirty Boyz trash hauling license failed at the last meeting on a 4-2 vote.
The license renewal for Dirty Boyz and Wyoming Waste will be back before the council tonight after new members are sworn in at the beginning the meeting. Tonight’s council meeting starts at 7:30 p.m.
