SEATTLE — The proposal passed the Seattle Public Utilities and Neighborhoods committee Tuesday afternoon.
Currently, single-family homes have compost bins, and multi-dwelling units and commercial buildings are required to have compost service available.
But city officials said about one-third to half of all city garbage still contains compostable items. To try to meet the city’s previously set goal of recycling 60 percent of garbage by 2015, public utilities staff suggested the composting requirement.
“We don’t want to make a big financial impact on households’ budgets, on the other hand we want to be noticeable, something that people will remember,” said Timothy Croll, the solid waste director for Seattle Public Utilities.
Under the proposal, if any single-family home has food waste making up more than 10 percent of its garbage bin, the customer could receive a $1 fine.
An apartment complex or commercial building would receive two warnings, then be fined $50 on the third incident.
The draft ordinance calls for education and outreach starting Oct. 1, with penalty fees levied starting July 1.
“I throw any flowers, any egg shells, any leftover food I have in there,” said Lindsay Warchol, a resident who already composts.
Warchol said she believes the $1 fine is reasonable.
Others said the $1 fine will have no effect on people’s composting behaviors. Rather, some told KIRO 7 the rule would just make people mad.
One resident said she felt the rule could not be properly enforced.
Croll said the idea is not to have aggressive enforcement, but to instill the practice of composting.
He said department inspectors will conduct random checks on dumpsters as they currently do for recycling violations.
Garbage collectors already look at garbage bins of single-family homes to check for recyclable items too. Currently, any garbage bin with too many glass or plastic bottles will be left there with a tag for the homeowner to remove those items.
This proposal would have garbage collectors pick up the trash no matter what, but the city would fine the customer $1 for a recycling or a composting violation.
The Seattle Restaurant Alliance sent a representative to the committee meeting Tuesday.
Josh McDonald said on the group’s behalf that local restaurants are in support of the idea, but there are many businesses outside the city’s core that may need more education and collaboration.
“Please focus on the areas of the city that currently don’t have very strong composting service, or some that don’t have service at all right now. We can’t ask folks to do something that they currently don’t have access to,” McDonald said.
KIRO
