Borough clears up definition of ‘trash’

PALMER — If you grind, shred or pulverize trash, it is still trash.

That’s the latest ruling from the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, which voted Tuesday to make this distinction clear. And if the need for such a rule is not immediately apparent to you, you’re not alone.

“We have a definition of trash, and trash is trash based on this definition here,” borough assemblyman Ron Arvin. “But when you shred it, pulverize or cause it to be broken, that renders it somehow different. I don’t understand why that is.”

Why the borough assembly felt compelled to make this change is a long story that relates to a company that wishes to open a monofill — a landfill that only takes in discarded building material — on a plot of land off the Glenn Highway south of Palmer.

When the borough found the operators of that would-be monofill had started moving material to the site without a permit, it cited the company, Central Monofill Services.

When the company appealed, one of its claims was that the stuff it had moved to the site wasn’t trash. The material had been shredded into something that could be used as landfill cover. Most landfills cover trash with dirt every day to keep it from blowing around, but company officials have expressed a hope that shredded building material could serve the same purpose.

So, the company argued, it was a product they hoped to sell, not trash. Therefore the ordinances relating to dumping trash and junk do not apply.

A district court agreed with the borough that indeed the stuff was trash, not a product. But the borough’s own Board of Adjustments and Appeals ruled that it was not trash, although the company still needed to get a permit.

“That’s not a consistent ruling,” borough attorney Nick Spriopoulos told the assembly at Tuesday’s meeting.

Since the ruling wasn’t consistent, he said, the borough needed to fix its codes to make clear what they apply to.

“The question is, do you need a permit to do it?” Spriopoulos said. “Their argument is, ‘we don’t need a permit, we can do this wherever whenever however we want.’”

Arvin argued that the ordinance seemed aimed directly at one operator, CMS.

Spriopoulos disagreed, saying that the rule was for future operators and meant to apply to anyone who wanted to open an operation similar to what CMS was proposing.

The issue first came to the assembly during its meeting April 1. During that meeting, numerous neighbors of the proposed monofill testified.

“You can’t just be dumping ground-up material wherever you want and calling it cover,” said Bill Quantick.

Zennon McNeill, president of the Gateway Community Council also favored the change.

“We know what trash is. If you grind it to a finer material it doesn’t change the fact that it’s still trash,” he said.

A 4-3 majority of the assembly eventually sided with the community.

Contact Andrew at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.

Should the borough clearly state that trash is still trash when it’s shredded or ground up?

Ron Arvin: No

Matthew Beck: Yes

Steve Colligan: No

Jim Colver: Yes

Vern Halter: Yes

Darcie Salmon: No

Jim Sykes: Yes