‘Paper police’ creating a furor in hunt for delinquent recyclers

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - D.C. government inspectors on the hunt for delinquent recyclers have issued thousands of citations after picking through the garbage of private offices, drawing the ire of the business community and raising constitutional concerns.

“It was like a bad ‘Candid Camera’ show,” said the office manager of one Vermont Avenue office after an inspection this week. “I couldn’t believe we were being threatened like that by the paper police.”

That inspection, according to the office manager, brought threats of fines for mislabeled recycling boxes, and plastic wrap co-mingled with a single paper napkin. In another instance, The Examiner was told, an inspector entered a law office, seized a recycling box from a lawyer’s desk and picked through papers that might have been privileged.

Under D.C. law, the District can enter a nonresidential building “and inspect and investigate an allegation about a nuisance,” but only “consistent with constitutional safeguards.” Department of Public Works officials say the inspections are usually scheduled in advance, though surprise visits occur often in response to a whistle-blower.

The city requires recycling of paper products; aluminum; steel and tin cans; brown, green and clear glass bottles and jars. Refusing to provide access to a DPW inspector carries a $500 penalty, a fine rarely imposed.

The DPW’s recycling office conducted 3,209 inspections in fiscal 2007, issuing 692 warnings and 2,343 violation notices as high as $1,000. DPW’s five inspectors pick through an office’s waste and recycling baskets no matter the contents, in search of the misplaced soda can or Post-it note.

Government inspectors picking through private papers “raises very serious constitutional problems in my view,” said Jonathan Turley, director of the Environmental Law Advocacy Center at George Washington University.

There is legal precedent for “administrative searches” done through regulation but without a court order, Turley said. But, “You don’t lose your expectation of privacy until you physically discharge the trash. ... The point is it is rifling through information protected by privacy law or the Constitution.”

Real estate services firm Akridge warns its property managers to take “necessary precautions to provide security of sensitive materials” during inspections, according to a communication from the company. Shaun Pharr, a senior vice president with the Apartment and Office Building Association, questioned whether DPW’s “degree of on-site scrutiny is required,” given security concerns.

Bill Easley, DPW’s recycling program officer, said the agency’s five inspectors are always escorted through buildings and are frequently told of areas they cannot visit because of security concerns. They are not looking to steal information, he said. “We are looking for contamination.”

mneibauer@dcexaminer.com

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