Garbage collection arguably is the most gritty, necessary service and one people generally don’t talk much about.

Except in the city of San Diego.

The fee-free trash pickup has long been treated like a vested right — for single-family homeowners.

The 103-year-old People’s Ordinance that allows for that always seemed untouchable. In the past, periodic talk about assessing a fee that is common elsewhere typically was swatted away like an errant fly from a garbage can.

Never mind that the city policy is patently unfair in that it requires owners of condominiums, apartments and many business to pay for private trash service, while standalone homes get city service at no extra charge.

Now, the San Diego City Council plans to ask voters in November to end this practice of political pork and clear the way to charge homeowners trash-collection fees. (We’ll get to the dispute over whether the service is “free” or something already paid for by existing taxes in due time.)

The notion that scrapping the age-old system has serious momentum calls for a look back at how we got here. For those unfamiliar with this history, pull up a chair. For those well-versed in it, indulge me.

Critics have suggested the current setup is a scam, which seems appropriate because it was a doozy of a scandal that led to the (no-)fee structure. It involved pigs feeding at the trough — literally and figuratively.

The history has been well-chronicled over the years, and county grand juries have reviewed the policy and recommended the change being proposed today.

The 1919 People’s Ordinance was approved by voters when San Diego had about 70,000 residents. The measure was triggered by the revelation that a private company was charging residents to collect trash and food waste, and then selling it to hog farmers in Los Angeles — a profitable double dip.

The ordinance assigned the duty of collecting trash to the city. The measure also gave the city the power to charge taxes or fees to pay for the service.

“However, that portion of the Ordinance was never implemented, establishing a precedent for no-fee trash collection,” according to a 2008-09 grand jury report.

The city stopped selling the garbage to pig farms in the early 1960s, but the ordinance remained the same until it was amended in 1981 and again in 1986.

Both amendments, put on the ballot by the municipal government, sought to reduce the city’s responsibility for collecting waste, with the second change excluding most multi-family units and businesses from the no-fee service.

“The amendments deleted the 1919 provision that required the City Council to impose a trash tax,” according to a 2010 memo from the City Attorney’s Office.

So, while the original law passed more than a century ago gets the blame, it was actually decision-makers who for decades never exercised the authority to collect for the service. Then the fee-free service was confirmed in the modern era.

Standalone residences are still dominant, but less so than they were a century ago. Now, San Diego has a population of more than 1.4 million and nearly 53 percent of its housing units are single-family homes, most of which get no-fee trash pickup.

Supporters of the ballot measure say the law costs San Diego $50 million a year and prevents the city from enacting environmentally friendly “pay as you throw” programs that give discounts for producing less trash. They also contend the law unfairly benefits vacation rentals, according to David Garrick of The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Critics of the proposal say repealing the law would amount to double taxation because single-family homeowners already pay for trash pickup through their property taxes, Garrick noted. They also say a repeal would hurt the many San Diego single-family homeowners who are older and have relatively low incomes.

But condominium and business property owners also pay property taxes. Apartment dwellers, by extension, likely do as well, as taxes and other costs are surely built in to their rent. So, those people essentially are subsidizing trash pickup for single-family homes.

The November ballot measure calls for the repeal of the People’s Ordinance, but does not assess a trash fee or tax. That allows the proposal to pass with a simple majority, rather than the two-thirds required for a tax.

If approved, the city would conduct a study to determine how much to charge for trash service. But it would be up to the council to enact that, similar to how it raises utility fees. This process means the actual tax would not have to go to voters.

In a political sea change, the proposal appears to have broad support, when for so long it has been avoided like a political third rail. Lining up to support the measure are some environmental groups, labor unions and the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. The Democrat-dominated City Council placed the measure on the ballot by a 7-2 vote last week.

Formal opposition has yet to surface and no doubt an effort to defeat the measure will emerge that depicts the proposal as a tax increase, even if it doesn’t technically do that.

The funds raised through the new fees would go to cover the cost of trash service and potentially free up money to help pay for other things, whether public safety, recreation programs or employee salaries.

Meanwhile, the cost of trash hauling is going up. State law now requires local governments to set up a food-waste recycling system. Food waste in landfills creates methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.

This is forcing San Diego and other jurisdictions to spend millions of dollars on new green food-recycling bins, in addition to increased operations costs. The food waste will go to a composting system.

There’s something of a back-to-the-future feel to the recycling of food scraps. This time, the aim is to improve the environment, not fatten hogs and the bottom line of devious businesses.

Goes to Chris Megerian (@ChrisMegerian), Associated Press White House reporter, after a loud dog bark “audio bombed” President Joe Biden’s Tuesday virtual meeting with South Korean corporate executives.

“Classic work from home problem!”

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Noreen Farrell is executive director of Equal Pay Advocates and co-founder of Equal Pay Today, organizations working to eliminate the gender wage gap by addressing its underlying issues along with pushing for targeted legislation and policies

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