City Of Reading's Recycling Fee Not Preempted By PA Solid Waste Management Act

A resident of the City of Reading (the "City") claimed that the City's recycling ordinance was preempted by the Pennsylvania Solid Waste Management Act (the "Act"), 35 P.S. § § 6018.101 et seq., as applied to the resident because he operated a solid waste hauling business.  Although the resident failed to file a post-trial motion to preserve the issue for appeal, Berks County Court of Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey K. Sprecher nonetheless granted the resident the opportunity to be heard, and analyzed the potential preemption of the City's recycling ordinance.

The resident argued that the Act sets forth a framework for municipal regulation of waste management and regulation, and cited Pa. Independent Waste Haulers Ass'n v. Northumberland, 885 A.2d 1106 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2005) for the proposition that the Act preempts a municipality, such as the City, from imposing recycling fees on him as a waste hauler.