Scofflaws come in many ages and varieties.

It’s easy to recognize some of them: The underage drunk who tears the hand towel dispenser from a public restroom. The motorist who collects parking tickets by the dozens. The shoplifter. The smoker who lights up in a no-smoking area. The adult who buys beer for minors.

One variety isn’t easy to recognize, however: The householder who discards appliances or toxic materials at a Kootenai County dumpster. He’s cousin to the business owner who leaves commercial waste at one of the county’s 17 rural dumping areas. Another petty violator in this particular clan is the Spokane County cheapskate who saves a few bucks by crossing the state line to use Kootenai County bins.

Business lawbreakers alone cost the county an estimated $500,000 each year.

Remember this family tree of bad apples next month when Kootenai County begins closing and consolidating rural dump sites in an attempt to stop illegal dumping, increase recycling and preserve the life of the Fighting Creek landfill, near Worley. Once again, the thoughtlessness and poor citizenship of the few have ruined a good thing for the many. After years of threatening to streamline the system and crack down on illegal dumpers, Kootenai County commissioners had little choice but to order drastic changes.

The main goal of solid waste officials is to extend the life of the current landfill for another 14 years.

County commissioners will need the ensuing time to build a second transfer station, at Post Falls, and to plan to locate and construct a landfill elsewhere in the county, or, more likely, to prepare to ship waste by rail to an out-of-county landfill. Either option will be costly. Not long from now, homeowners will look back fondly on this time when they paid only $84 for Kootenai County solid waste service.

Meanwhile, there are two simple rules that should help readers decide whether they’re eligible to dump trash at the county’s rural sites:

• Out-of-county residents are ineligible unless they own property in Kootenai County and have paid the $84 annual solid waste fee. But they still have to get a sticker from the Ramsey Road transfer station to show dump attendants at rural sites.

• The only waste that will be allowed at the rural sites is the household kind. Beginning Sept. 2, monitors at Twin Lakes, Garwood and Athol dumps will turn away local waste that should be taken to the transfer station, such as appliances, yard debris and chemicals. Most items will be accepted at the transfer station free of charge, if less than 2,000 pounds.

Judging by the flow of Washington license plates entering the Twin Lakes site last week, Spokane County violators have an unpleasant surprise awaiting them when they try to dispose of their trash there three weeks from now. They’ll be turned away from the drop site. They shouldn’t get mad. For years, they’ve been allowed to take advantage of holes in the Kootenai County system to skirt paying their fair share for waste disposal.

The free ride is about to end.