Making rules for waste disposal can be a messy business in Palo Alto, as the City Council learned last month when it pondered a new law that would require all local businesses to recycle and compost.
At the time, members lauded the goal of the new law – less trash heading to landfills – but took issue with some of the details of the ordinance.
Councilman Greg Scharff criticized it for being to broad and ambiguous, possibly subjecting residential customers to fines for placing trash in the wrong container. And Mayor Karen Holman complained that the proposed ordinance didn't make sufficient reference to salvaging of materials during demolition.