As of January 1st (yesterday) the City of Seattle will no longer allow food or compostable paper (pizza boxes, paper napkins, paper towels, etc.) in with general garbage.
Early in 2014, the Seattle City Council passed new food waste requirements and Seattle Mayor Ed Murray signed them into law. The new rules are expected to divert as much as 38,000 more tons of food scrapes from the landfill, helping achieve goals to recycle or compost 60% of Seattle waste by 2015. However, the December 2014 press releases on this ordinance from Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) fail to mention potential penalties, or the amounts expected to be collected from violators, and the income expected to be generated from potential fines.
Recyclables and yard waste have been prohibited from Seattle garbage for more than a decade. Organics (food, paper napkins, cardboard pizza boxes, leaves and grass) make up the largest component of Seattle’s waste and SPU estimates that 30% of the 317,258 tons of trash disposed in the landfill in 2013 was compostable. Yet, in 2013, SPU reports that Seattle diverted 56.2% of its waste – 407,125 tons – from the landfill via recycling and composting.
In addition to providing solid waste services, SPU provides customers in the metropolitan Seattle area with reliable water supply, essential sewer, drainage and engineering services. Learn more about Seattle Public Utilities, and waste disposal, through the SPU website or follow SPU on Twitter.