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In Seattle, compost is a separate bin (green) and is picked up every week with trash. Restaurants in the city have to provide separate garbage, recycle, and co
by techsupporter 11y ago
In Seattle, compost is a separate bin (green) and is picked up every week with trash. Restaurants in the city have to provide separate garbage, recycle, and compost containers, must sort it themselves before disposal, or use all-compostable end-user waste (like Taco Time Northwest).
Prior to January, composting was optional but composting service--that is, having the green bin of any size--was mandatory. Composting itself became mandatory, primarily because restaurants were just chucking the food waste, and if the trash hauler sees a bunch of food getting crunched up with the trash bag, a red tag will be left on your garbage bin. (There used to be fines but Seattle Public Utilities hit its composting target so fast, the $1 "oooh you dun did it now" fine has been suspended.)
My anecdotal experience is that it works rather well if you're prepared. I keep a small, charcoal-filter-in-the-lid compost bucket in the kitchen, lined by compostable bags purchased from Bartell's. When the bag gets full or too smelly, I drop it in the compost bin just outside my back door. Once a week, it goes out to the curb with the garbage with minimal fuss. The medium-sized bin I have costs ~$7/month.
- tomjen3 11y agoRestaurants -> residents? I don't normally call these things out, but it confused the hell out of me when I was reading it. Also I couldn't imagine having something that smelly in my kitchen or having to buy special bags. My parents have backyard chicken so it is mostly the same deal (except milk products, raw eggs and chicken goes in the bin) but it gets emptied every day so it hasn't gotten any opportunity to start to smell.
- techsupporter 11y agoNope, restaurants means restaurants. Apologies for not being clear. The food service places were throwing out lots of compostable food in their regular waste so the city made composting mandatory for all customers of Seattle Public Utilities, residents and restaurants alike. If the compost container kept in the house has a lid with a charcoal filter on it, there's very little to no smell. The small container gets emptied into the big container once every couple of days. As for the bags, I have to buy trash bags, so I buy mostly trash bags and some compost bags. Everybody sells them and they're in a bazillion different sizes (moreso than regular trash bags). I actually buy the tall ones to serve as liners for my compost bin that sits outside--so I don't have to hose it out--and then smaller ones to go in the compost container inside. That way everything stays clean with little fuss.