Residential Organics Recycling Efforts March Northward

Alison Bickerstaff is an environmental science major and Fairhaven student at Western Washington University. She has been previously published in the Huxley College magazine, The Planet.

“I’ve abandoned my worms,” said Mary Ann Cook, an elderly widow living in Lake Forest Park, Washington. She leaned forward, smiling, and whispered: “This is way better than what my worms can do.”

“This,” as Cook described it, sounded like an excerpt from Ernest Callenbach’s“Ecotopia,” a 1975 novel set in San Francisco depicting the stable-state ecological system achieved by an imaginary nation called Ecotopia, a portion of the Northwest that seceded from the United States in 1980.

Ecotopians take great pride in not only separating out recyclables from their garbage as most do today, but also in pursuing a residential organics recycling collection program through which their food and paper wastes are recycled and used as fertilizer for food production. Moreover, Ecoto-pians produce little garbage, require only a small fleet of garbage trucks, and, thus, pay little for collection services.

It appears the city of Lake Forest Park has breathed life into this element of “Ecotopia.” Starting last spring, the city began offering 300 households the opportunity to participate in an organics recycling pilot project proposed by the King County Solid Waste Division.

“What they say is that it cuts down on the number of trucks that they have to send out,” said Cook, a participant in the program. “It cuts down on fuel and man hours. And it has really cut down the amount of garbage waste I have.”

Lake Forest Park, as well as three Eastside cities (Redmond, Kirkland, and Issaquah) accepted King County’s proposal, which gives participating residents the opportunity to recycle organic matter, including fruit and vegetable waste, yard waste, pizza boxes, and soiled paper, as well as meat and dairy products. Rabanco, the county’s contracted waste hauler, will collect the organics from the study participants until the end of January 2003, at which point the study will terminate.

Cook displayed items collected so far that day —an apple core and a tea bag.

“It’s not much because it’s just me living here, but you can put paper in, and paper towels, and they also take milk cartons. It’s really neat. I just dump stuff into here.” Cook displayed a small, green, plastic, air-tight kitchen container provided to study participants. “Organic material builds up in here until it gets pretty full and I take it out to my Compostainer.”

King County provided participants large, green, plastic totes called Compostainers at no additional charge. Aeration holes along the sides of the tote, as well as a tough screen in the bottom of the tote, allow air circulation and promote decomposition.

“The idea is that you put in the food waste alternating with yard waste, and that pretty much takes care of the odor. You don’t have to put yard waste in, but they recommend it—and it keeps me pruning,” said Cook. “It’s collected every two weeks. Regular recycle and garbage are collected on the alternate weeks.”

Josh Marx, the organics recycling program organizer for King County, said the material collected in the study will be transported to Cedar Grove Composting, the nation’s largest single-dedicated composting facility, located in Maple Valley, Washington, next to King County’s Cedar Hills Landfill.

The company produces compost that can be used by landscapers, homeowners, and farmers to improve soil fertility and decrease the need for chemical application. Their compost meets Washington State Ecology Class AA standards for application to vegetable gardens, and studies by the University of Washington found that compost produced at Cedar Grove had a greater effect than fertilizer at increasing crop yields.

“But it’s unique because it’s more than vegetable stuff that they take. They also take meat and bones,” Cook said. “I worm-binned before, but you don’t dare put meat in there or fats.”

Cook explained that, since she is still on a septic system, she uses many paper towels to blot up grease and oil from the meat she cooks because she does not want the fats to ruin her septic system.

“It’s wonderful,” Cook said. “Now I can put those paper towels right in along with my peelings and trimmings. I also save those paper coffee cups from meetings and Starbucks and such and put those in, too.”

Besides offering the unique opportunity to compost meat and dairy, the pilot project also presents some solutions to pressing problems. The study comes at a time when recycling has hit a plateau in Lake Forest Park and King County at large. For an area that rode the crest of the recycling wave in the 1980s, it may be surprising to learn that landfill diversion rates have leveled off since peaking at 50 percent in 1995.

Because organic waste comprises about 30 percent to 40 percent of material that ends up in the county’s landfill, organics recycling could significantly boost the current rate of landfill diversion. Cedar Hills Landfill, which is rapidly filling, is expected to reach ultimate capacity by 2013. After that, King County will likely have to pay to have its garbage shipped out of state.

If adopted, this program would remove one garbage truck route per day in Lake Forest Park, since garbage is collected weekly under the normal system. If other cities follow suit, then this would help decrease the garbage load burdening Cedar Hills Landfill.

But this is not the first organics recycling pilot project in the King County region. In 1994, the city of Seattle tried a pilot program, but it was quite small, short, and only included food waste (Seattle is independent of King County in terms of waste management). Seattle recently completed another study that included yard waste in 2000. King County also ran a pilot project in 1995.

Through trial and error, much has been learned from these studies to help craft King County’s current pilot project, which it hopes will become a permanent fixture this time around. A handful of other cities have started organics recycling collection programs, and they have proven quite successful.

San Francisco was the first major U.S. city to initiate a residential food composting collection program, which began in 2000. The city, which, incidentally, is the backdrop of Callenbach’s “Ecotopia,” uses a three-cart color-coded program that makes recycling easy for residents.

The program, known as the “Fantastic 3,” includes three carts, one each for compostables, mixed recyclables, and garbage, that are each about 32 gallons and are picked up weekly. Participation by restaurants, businesses, and other private commercial institutions has also been remarkably successful. Once the program is in full swing, San Francisco expects its landfill diversion rate to increase from the 46 percent a few years ago to over 50 percent by 2003.

San Jose, Calilf, which will start an organics collection program beginning in January 2003, already exceeds its 50 percent landfill diversion goal. Based on organics collection pilot projects carried out in the past few years, the city estimates that over 60 percent diversion could be obtained once the new program is in full swing.

Such examples show that remarkable landfill diversion rates are certainly within the realm of possibility. It seems likely that King County, which also already diverts about half its waste, could stand to achieve similar success if an organics recycling program is adopted.

So is there any hope of the trend sweeping northward to the City of Bellingham or Whatcom County at large?

While it is not likely that a program will be adopted any time in the near future, one thing is clear—the process would have to start with a good deal of citizen input to the City of Bellingham.

According to Marie Bishop, City of Bellingham Public Works Superintendent of Services, all solid waste handling systems in Whatcom County are owned and operated by private companies, except for the Clean Green yard waste site.

“Residential solid waste and recycling service for the City of Bellingham is provided under contract by Sanitary Service Company,” Bishop said. “Any changes or additions to this agreement would need to be requested by the city and negotiated for inclusion.”

Bishop explained that the city is open to discussing these issues if significant citizen support is evident.

Rodd Pemble, Recycling Services, Inc. (a subsidiary of Sanitary Service Company) Manager, explained that there are currently no licensed composting facilities in Whatcom County.

“If any type of composting facility were to become available, then economic analysis would be done to determine if Sanitary Service Company can provide collection service at a price attractive to our customers,” Pemble said. “Sorting compostables at home or business does involve some significant logistical considerations, as well as large upfront costs for containers.”

Bishop voiced several concerns that would have to be taken into account before any organics collection program could begin, including funding and permitting issues. She said, “Funding for these costs would likely come from an increase in the garbage rate, or additional solid waste utility taxes, which are included on the monthly garbage bill.

“The facility and its operation would need to be permitted under the Minimum Functional Standards for Solid Waste Handling, WAC 173-304, and inspected regularly by the Whatcom County Health Department,” Bishop said. “The facility would be required to have leachate control, odor abatement, and a safe option for the use of the finished compost.”

But how would the public respond to an organics recycling program?

“Well I can’t speak for my neighbors, but for me the program is so convenient,” said Cook of Lake Forest Park. “With my worms, you know, it took six months to get nice stuff to add to my soil. And I’m not too keen on using a shovel and digging all that much any more.”

Cook said the pilot project altered her daily routine in a positive way, and that she did not want to go back to her old ways.

“I mean for one thing, I’ve changed my habits. It took a bit to get in the habit of doing things this way, and if I had to switch back... I’m going to feel terrible if they take the program away and don’t adopt it for everybody,” Cook said.

If embraced in the region, an organics recycling program would help promote waste reduction, landfill diversion, and resource conservation. Like an Ecotopian fantasy come true, locals could adopt a more sustainable waste management plan for the future—and kiss their worms good-bye.