Seattle Residents Increase Composting by 47%

Post your composting jobs.

Seattle, Washington residents increased food scraps composting by an 47% in 2009–approximately 10 times the national average–according Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) and Cedar Grove Composting.

In 2009, residents turned more than 89,000 tons of organics into compost through food waste collection, backyard composting and grasscycling. More than 26,000 tons of food waste were collected at the curb and returned back to local gardens, instead of going to the landfill.

The composting was a 47% improvement on 2008, when food waste made up about 20% of the 400,000 tons of garbage Seattle sent to the landfill.

“On any given week, more than half of Seattle subscribers are putting their food and yard waste carts out for collection. By turning our food waste into compost we are keeping Seattle’s gardens, yards and parks green and healthy,” said Tim Croll, SPU Solid Waste Director.

Compost helps minimize water usage and adds beneficial microbes, nutrients and structure to the soil that help grow stronger, healthier flowers, plants and vegetables. It also helps prevent erosion and protects Seattle’s rivers, lakes and watersheds from pollutants.

Cedar Grove Composting has been composting Seattle’s yard waste for almost 20 years, and now handles yard and food waste collected from cities and counties all around Puget Sound. Cedar Grove is one of the largest composting facilities in the U.S., and the sole facility handling all the food waste in the immediate Seattle area. 

“We hope that through this effort, more area businesses and residents will see the benefits that our compost products can offer for creating more sustainable gardens through less water usage, carbon sequestration and reduction of green house gas emissions. The completion of the sustainable recycling loop is critical to the success of our partnership together,” said Steve Banchero, CEO of Cedar Grove Composting.

In Related News…

RecycleMania announced the winners of its 10th Annual collegiate recycling competition. Over 10 weeks leading up to March 27, 607 US colleges and universities collected 84.5 million pounds of recyclables and organic materials. 

Colleges and universities chose to participate in one of two divisions, either the Competition or Benchmark. The Competition Division houses the traditional competitive rankings based on standard tracking and reporting criteria. The Benchmark Division allows schools to unofficially compare themselves with other schools and to promote RecycleMania on campus without the formal reporting requirements of the competitive ranking.

Within each division, schools participate in any of eight categories, including the “Grand Champion,” which measures recycling as a percentage of the total waste generation; the “Per Capita Classic,” which measures the largest amount of combined recyclables per person; the “Waste Minimization” competition, which tracks the lowest amount of waste per person; and the “Gorilla” Prize, which acknowledges the schools with the highest total combine recycling weights. In addition to these main categories, schools also compete in targeted material categories to see who can recycle the most paper, cardboard, cans and bottles, and food waste on a per capita basis.

The “Grand Champion” top three finalists, determined by the percentage of overall waste that is recycled over 10 weeks, were:

1. California State University-San Marcos (71.82 %) – San Marcos, CA
2. New Mexico State University (69.05 %) – Las Cruces, NM
3. American University (64.90 %) – Washington DC

The “Per Capita Classic” top three finalists, determined by total pounds of recyclables collected per person over 10 weeks, were:

1. United States Coast Guard Academy (81.75 pounds) – New London, CT
2. Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (63.14 pounds) – Needham, MA
3. Colorado College (60.8 pounds) – Colorado Springs, CO

The “Waste Minimization” top three finalists, determined by the lowest overall amount of waste (recyclables and trash) per person over 10 weeks, were:

1. North Lake College (6.17 pounds) – Irving, TX
2. Harford Community College (7.87 pounds) – Bel Air, MD
3. Santa Monica College (8.13 pounds) – Santa Monica, CA

The “Gorilla Prize” top three finalists, determined by the highest cumulative weight of recyclables over 10 weeks, were:

1. Rutgers University (2,541,093 pounds) – Piscataway, NJ
2. Harvard University (996,760 pounds) – Cambridge, MA
3. Stanford University (888,884 pounds) – Stanford, CA

Targeted Material (pounds per person over 10 weeks) for Food Service Organics:

1. Johnson & Wales University-Denver (41.79 pounds) – Denver, CO
2. United States Coast Guard Academy (37.49 pounds) – New London, CT
3. Middlebury College (29.31 pounds) – Middlebury, VT