Dive Brief:

• The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that residents of Minnesota should have no expectation of privacy after placing the trash bin on the curb for pick-up.
• The court determined that the Minnesota Constitution doesn’t give more privacy protection for household waste than the U.S. Constitution.
• The U.S. Supreme Court regularly rules that waste is public.

Dive Insight:

Justice Wilhelmina Wright, an Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court said, “Garbage is placed at the curb with the expectation that a third-party trash collector will take it, and the trash collector could sort through the garbage or permit others to do so. It is not reasonable to expect the contents of garbage bags placed on the side of a public street for collection to remain private.”

With cities like Seattle set to be administering fines to residents who don’t follow food waste laws properly soon — fines being enforced July 1 — the ability for waste workers to scrutinize household trash is necessary. As more cities adopt organics recycling laws, this practice may become more widespread.