The government signed up to a European Union directive, and by 2020 the amount of biodegradable waste - the stuff that rots - going to landfill, will have to be cut back by millions of tons a year.
Experience shows that giving the stuff away causes a massive waste of resources.
"Having this stuff go to ... hazardous waste sites, that's what you want to have happen, " said Adam Browning, executive director of the Vote Solar Initiative, a solar advocacy group.
Waste-paper merchants now offer 15 times more for the stuff than two years ago (see chart).
He says half of the ash coming out of U.S. waste-to-energy plants is glass and metal, stuff that can be recycled.
"Mr McBride, having scribbled this stuff, decided that the right place for it was the waste basket, " he added.
The department specifies that animal waste must be picked up every seven days, and has rules about keeping stuff in the yard that might be a breeding ground for vermin and mosquitoes, like old tires.
"The idea is that the same thing is true for colors, that there are certain kinds of colors that are characteristic of stuff that's good for us as a species -- clear sky, clear water -- and stuff that's bad for us, like rotting foods, biological waste products, " he said.
The method is being employed at a small test facility, where waste water is piped through a complex maze of equipment, including a membrane that removes the nasty stuff.
Until recently most people in the waste industry had assumed that it was impossible to reduce the amount being produced and were concentrating on putting the stuff to better use.
You're not going to want to waste your time watching Return of the King on this thing, but it's just fine for short stuff where often times the dialogue is just as important as what's being pictured.
It's all pretty heady stuff, which is why we're also gonna take a quick detour to the world of human waste.
ENGADGET: Alt-week 8.4.12: buckyballs, bosons and bodily fluids Alt
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