The Superior City Council last month dangled the carrot designed to encourage recycling as state law requires -- the implementation of larger bins to roll out next summer and the elimination of a sorting requirement.
The council stopped short of using a stick to prompt people to participate in the mandatory program.
The council divided 4-4 against a proposal that would have raised the penalty for those who fail to recycle, failing to adopt the new ordinance.
Councilors Jackie Stenberg, Esther Dalbec, Ed Anderson and Tom Bridge favored the new law as a means of encouraging "blatant violators" of the city's mandatory recycling program. Councilors Dan Olson, Warren Bender, Mick MacKenzie and Chuck Hendry voted against the measure.
Some councilors took issue with court penalties, which would drive the proposed $100 fine up to $249 for a first time violation. The penalties were implemented by the state legislature to help pay for the cost of the state court system. However, the city's current fine of $50 would still climb to $186 for a first violation of the city's recycling ordinance.
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Councilor Ed Anderson, a law enforcement veteran, said there are city costs involved in the court system and it made sense to raise the penalty to cover those costs. For those who don't want to risk the fine, he said, they have an option: "Recycle."
The obligation to recycle remains even though the council didn't adopt a new ordinance.
Aluminum containers, bimetal and steel containers, unbroken glass bottles and jars, No. 1 and No. 2 plastics, envelopes, junk mail, office and computer paper, magazines, phone books, boxboard or paperboard, paper milk and juice cartons and corrugated cardboard except greasy pizza boxes can be deposited without sorting in recycling bins for pickup. The city's ordinance still does not reflect the change in the program that went into effect Jan. 1.
It was unclear Tuesday night if the council would review another version of the ordinance.
