Clover Leaf Creamery Co. v. State
| Decision Date | 31 March 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 48827.,48827. |
| Citation | 289 NW 2d 79 |
| Parties | CLOVER LEAF CREAMERY COMPANY, et al., Respondents, v. STATE of Minnesota, Appellant. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Warren Spannaus, Atty. Gen., Byron E. Starns, Chief Deputy Atty. Gen., and Kenneth E. Raschke, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., St. Paul, for appellant.
Briggs & Morgan, Leonard J. Keyes, Douglas L. Skor and Andrea M. Bond, St. Paul, for respondents.
James D. Miller, Minneapolis, for Minnesota Public Interest Research Group, amicus curiae.
Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.
Certiorari Granted March 31, 1980. See 100 S.Ct. 1596.
Defendant, state of Minnesota, appeals from the trial court's judgment in favor of plaintiffs,1 holding L. 1977, c. 268 (the Act), to be unconstitutional.2 We affirm the trial court's judgment and hold that the Act violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, because it establishes a classification which is not rationally related to a legitimate state interest.
The Act, approved on May 26, 1977, provides:
We note three specific aspects of this unique statute:6 (1) The Act does not, under any circumstances, permit the use of nonrefillable7 plastic containers for milk;8 (2) milk is the only commodity affected by the Act, plastic containers are not banned unless they are filled with milk; and (3) only plastic nonrefillable milk containers are affected by the Act, paper nonrefillable milk containers are not affected.9
Plaintiffs contend the Act violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because it creates a classification in which paper containers are to be preserved while plastic nonrefillables are to be banned. Because the present statute involves economic regulation, the relevant test is whether the classification is rationally related to a legitimate state interest. New Orleans v. Dukes, 427 U.S. 297, 96 S. Ct: 2513, 49 L.Ed.2d 511 (1976). Plaintiffs argue that a rational classification is not established because, from an environmental standpoint, paper containers are not superior to plastic nonrefillables, and a ban on plastic nonrefillables will serve to encourage the use of paper containers instead of serving to encourage the use of refillable milk containers.
The Act is intended to further the policies stated in Minn.St. 116F.01; therefore, it is intended to promote the state interests of encouraging the reuse and recycling of materials and reducing the amount and type of material entering the solid waste stream. L. 1977, c. 268, § 1. Specifically, the stated legislative finding of the Act is that nonrefillable milk containers present solid waste management problems, promote energy waste, and deplete natural resources; the stated legislative goal is that use of returnable milk containers should be encouraged. L. 1977, c. 268, § 1. The Act, undoubtedly, deals with legitimate state interests. The crucial question is whether the classification separating paper containers from plastic nonrefillables is reasonably related to these state interests.
We are aware of the deference that is accorded to the legislature when the present type of statute is analyzed on equal protection grounds. Nevertheless, our inquiry into the constitutional propriety of the present classification separating paper containers from plastic nonrefillables is dependent upon facts. Based upon the relevant findings of fact by the trial court, supported by the record, and upon our own independent review of documentary sources, we believe the evidence conclusively demonstrates that the discrimination against plastic nonrefillables is not rationally related to the Act's objectives. Considering only the specific areas of solid waste management, energy waste, and depletion of natural resources, it is clear that the environmental effects of paper containers are not less harmful than the effects of plastic nonrefillables. It is also apparent that the classification will not further the Act's stated goal of encouraging the use of refillable milk containers.
The record supports the trial court's finding that plastic nonrefillables present fewer solid waste management problems than paper containers. The major method of solid waste disposal is by landfill deposit. The evidence at trial established that plastic nonrefillables are superior to paper containers for landfill disposal.
Defendant's expert witnesses agreed that the principal environmental hazards posed by landfill disposal are pollution of underground water, which is caused by leaching, and the creation and escape of methane gas. Both of these environmental hazards are created by waste decomposition. Bacterial and other chemical reactions, combined with percolation of water and other liquids, create leachates which seep into the ground and ultimately into underground water. The same reactions create methane gas, which is both noxious and explosive. Paper milk containers contribute to these environmental hazards because they begin to decompose as soon as the plastic coating on the exterior of the container is punctured or torn. Plastic nonrefillables are essentially inert and therefore do not contribute to the creation of leachates and methane gas.
Maintaining landfill stability is important in landfill disposal for two reasons. First, stability minimizes cracking of the final landfill cover. Such cracking results in the generation of leachates. Second, landfill stability encourages productive use of the landfill site after the landfill project is completed. Because waste decomposition creates landfill instability, plastic nonrefillables contribute to landfill stability while paper containers do not.
The trial court's finding that plastic nonrefillables and paper containers occupy substantially the same amount of landfill space is also justified by the evidence. Plastic nonrefillables contain less raw material and have greater density than paper containers. If total compaction (no void spaces left in containers) is achieved, plastic nonrefillables will occupy less landfill space. The evidence at trial demonstrated that during collection waste is typically compacted to a fraction of its original volume, that it is compacted further when deposited at the landfill, and that it has continual pressure exerted upon it as other layers of waste are deposited. Under these conditions, there is no basis for asserting that plastic nonrefillables occupy more landfill space than paper containers.10
Data in a 1977 final report by Midwest Research Institute (MRI) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)11 supports defendant's argument that plastic nonrefillables take more landfill space than paper containers; however, accuracy of the figures in the MRI report was persuasively attacked by plaintiffs' expert witnesses. Highly significant was the testimony of Richard Welch, a chief investigator involved in the MRI report. Welch indicated that in the first draft of the MRI report it was assumed, based upon conversations with experts, that plastic nonrefillables and paper containers would compress to within 10 percent of their original volume. The American Paper Institute then provided MRI with a study prepared by the Weyerhaeuser Corporation involving the compressibility of milk containers. The test used in the Weyerhaeuser study indicated that paper was superior to plastic. MRI incorporated the Weyerhaeuser finding in its final report because no other written documentation was available. Welch criticized the test conducted by Weyerhaeuser because it neglected to specify the weights of the containers used and because the test was conducted in a laboratory, not under conditions approximating those found in a landfill.12 William E. Ades of the EPA testified that he too was less confident of compressibility figures in the MRI report than of figures in other categories of container comparison. Welch further testified there was insufficient evidence to conclude that either type of container would consume more landfill space than the other. The contrary conclusion of defendant's solid waste expert, Harold Samtur, was based upon a weak and inconclusive foundation13 and, as the trial court indicated, lacked convincing quality.
Solid waste disposal is also achieved by incineration, a method of disposal in which plastic nonrefillables are superior to paper containers. Although currently not widespread, incineration will become more prevalent as technology advances and the energy value of the heat generated by it can be economically utilized. Both plastic nonrefillables and paper containers burn, but plastic nonrefillables have a much higher Btu value, which results in the recovery of more energy than can be recovered from burning paper containers. Moreover,...
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