Same here in Kent. Plus we only get recycling pickup every other week, so everyone throws recyclables in the garbage.
Reducing garbage pickup to every other week while picking up recycling and compost/yard debris weekly has been a primo incentive for folks to get with the program in Portland (I know you know this, jln--just sayin' ).
I think our recycling/composting program is probably the only thing I love about Portland city government.
Right! It's tough to adjust to having the opposite. I miss the way Portland does it.
Jim Ward owns a condo in a large building in the Laurelhurst neighborhood. He says his neighbors include people from many different countries who may not be familiar with Seattle's recycling rules. Ward came down to the building's recycling bin recently and it was a mess.
"I found dirty rags with oil on them and just really messy pieces of plastic that were wet," he says. So Ward took the opportunity to do some outreach.
"I ended up actually taking those things and putting them on the main counter in the lobby of the condominium, and I just wrote a note to everyone and I said, 'Are these things recyclable?' "
Am I the only one who doesn't find a passive aggressive note to be the same thing as outreach?
But anyway, this thread inspired me to sign up for recycling. Our city does compost, but you have to pay to participate. Trash is free, so I can't imagine they have a large participation rate.
Yeah, I rolled my eyes. What an asshole. Seriously, just pin a reminder about what can go in the recycling on the community board or something.
Don't people use garbage disposers? That's pretty much the norm for here.
we have one but only use it very very rarely. I don't know why. H does most of the hardcore kitchen stuff, and is anti-disposal... I think he thinks it's not good for the plumbing or something. Or something about the sewers...
We put a ton of stuff in compost we couldn't put down the disposal, though... bones, paper and cardboard (food boxes, napkins, compostable disposable cups etc), even compostable plastics. Plus yard waste.
Didn't someone on here say it was bad for the sewage? pixy0stix maybe?
I wish Tacoma would take notice. People are fucking nasty here with their garbage.
I walked around the zoo in Tacoma (I think it's in Tacoma?) with my paper coffee cup looking for a compost bin for almost 30 min. I finally asked BIL if they were only near the cafe or something and he looked at me like I was nuts for expecting one.
I was like, what do you MEAN you don't compost here? Seattle is hippie. You should be hippie by association. We compost in Oakland for godssake.
Do you mean Point Defiance? I love that zoo.
Yeah, they should have composting/recycling bins available!
I walked around the zoo in Tacoma (I think it's in Tacoma?) with my paper coffee cup looking for a compost bin for almost 30 min. I finally asked BIL if they were only near the cafe or something and he looked at me like I was nuts for expecting one.
I was like, what do you MEAN you don't compost here? Seattle is hippie. You should be hippie by association. We compost in Oakland for godssake.
Do you mean Point Defiance? I love that zoo.
Yeah, they should have composting/recycling bins available!
Yes! That's where we were. It was a very nice zoo.
(God knows why) I feel the need to defend Tacoma a little. I live in Seattle, work in Tacoma (in the stormwater research industry). I had a much more negative view of Tacoma before I started working there. They are actually doing some pretty cool stuff - they have a mandate to reduce the amount of solid waste going to their landfill by 70% by 2028. They also built a biofuel facility that uses landfill gas to produce electricity, and have plans to use it to produce compressed natural gas (which can fuel their truck fleet).
They were also designated a Clean Water Technology Innovative Partnership Zone a few years ago.
we have one but only use it very very rarely. I don't know why. H does most of the hardcore kitchen stuff, and is anti-disposal... I think he thinks it's not good for the plumbing or something. Or something about the sewers...
We put a ton of stuff in compost we couldn't put down the disposal, though... bones, paper and cardboard (food boxes, napkins, compostable disposable cups etc), even compostable plastics. Plus yard waste.
Didn't someone on here say it was bad for the sewage? pixy0stix maybe?
It can be. It depends on how your local sewage treatment is set up, but it has the potential to increase the nutrient load of the treated water - which can cause algal blooms. It is arguably better to use the disposal and send it to sewer treatment then to trash it and send it to the landfill, since sewer treatment will eventually essentially compost it for you, but composting directly beats the pants of either option in terms of environmental friendliness.
I have a disposal and I use it - but not for like, scraping uneaten food into, veggie peelings, etc. It's just for not having to reach into the nasty water to pull the strainer with it's bits and pieces of random clinging food from soaking a lasagna pan or something.
eta: it also causes problems when people are assholes who don't pay attention and stuff greasy shit down their disposal. Grease in a sewer system is no good.
I had no idea that cities collected food for composting! Do any cities on the east coast do this? I've never heard of such a thing, only home composting. Our borough collects yard waste for composting, but that's about it. I would love to compost but our backyard is the size of a postage stamp.
I had no idea that cities collected food for composting! Do any cities on the east coast do this? I've never heard of such a thing, only home composting. Our borough collects yard waste for composting, but that's about it. I would love to compost but our backyard is the size of a postage stamp.
NYC has mandatory composting. It's relatively new.
I had no idea that cities collected food for composting! Do any cities on the east coast do this? I've never heard of such a thing, only home composting. Our borough collects yard waste for composting, but that's about it. I would love to compost but our backyard is the size of a postage stamp.
NYC has mandatory composting. It's relatively new.
Are you in PA?
Yup. Out in the 'burbs of Philly. Maybe I need to start letter writing to our borough hall.
I had no idea that cities collected food for composting! Do any cities on the east coast do this? I've never heard of such a thing, only home composting. Our borough collects yard waste for composting, but that's about it. I would love to compost but our backyard is the size of a postage stamp.
It's coming on the east coast. There is a pilot program in my county in the DC/Balto area.
NYC has mandatory composting. It's relatively new.
Are you in PA?
Yup. Out in the 'burbs of Philly. Maybe I need to start letter writing to our borough hall.
So am I! I was gonna say, "It's only PA people who live in boroughs..." Unless you're talking about NYC. But yes, I also have a borough-sized lot, but we can fit compost in an area off to the side where it's blocked by the garage.
NYC has mandatory composting. It's relatively new.
Are you in PA?
Yup. Out in the 'burbs of Philly. Maybe I need to start letter writing to our borough hall.
You should absolutely write a letter. Several. Tell them that they're falling behind the DC burbs and should be ashamed.
Do they have an existing yard waste composting program? it's not a huge stretch to expand that to kitchen waste. I mean...it is a big upgrade. But it's not totally crazy.
Yup. Out in the 'burbs of Philly. Maybe I need to start letter writing to our borough hall.
You should absolutely write a letter. Several. Tell them that they're falling behind the DC burbs and should be ashamed.
Do they have an existing yard waste composting program? it's not a huge stretch to expand that to kitchen waste. I mean...it is a big upgrade. But it's not totally crazy.
They do have a pretty good yard waste program. They pick it up a couple times a month in all but a few months in winter.
You should absolutely write a letter. Several. Tell them that they're falling behind the DC burbs and should be ashamed.
Do they have an existing yard waste composting program? it's not a huge stretch to expand that to kitchen waste. I mean...it is a big upgrade. But it's not totally crazy.
They do have a pretty good yard waste program. They pick it up a couple times a month in all but a few months in winter.
NYC has mandatory composting. It's relatively new.
Are you in PA?
Wait, what?
Huh, I guess only some neighborhoods do, for now. I was under the impression it was city wide when I talked to a friend who has it. They have brown composting containers along with trash and recycling containers, now.
Post by penguingrrl on Jan 27, 2015 15:47:52 GMT -5
I've not heard of composting available in NYC at all and I only moved out 2.5 years ago. I had no idea cities did composting at all, I've only heard of people doing themselves in their backyards. I've actually never done it because I've never had a yard I was in charge of maintaining so I wouldn't have known what to do with it.
Huh, I guess only some neighborhoods do, for now. I was under the impression it was city wide when I talked to a friend who has it. They have brown composting containers along with trash and recycling containers, now.
All day. All day I've been reading this as "Seattle gets even more SECRETIVE about recycling. ." This article was not nearly as exciting as I was expecting.
Huh, I guess only some neighborhoods do, for now. I was under the impression it was city wide when I talked to a friend who has it. They have brown composting containers along with trash and recycling containers, now.
So the tag/fine is for cans with 10% or more food? I can't even fathom how that would be possible (in Seattle) -- are people just lazy?
Since we moved here we set up a garbage system where we have two 8 gallon cans; one for trash and one for compost, and a separate bin for recycling. We line the compost can with a compostable bag (biobag) and empty it once a week. The compost bag is always heavy and full from dinner scrapings, leftovers we forgot to eat, bones, shells, paper towels, napkins, compostable service ware, etc. The recycling bin gets emptied a couple times a week.
The 8 gallon trash can? Usually about half full when we set it out.
Yes, our garbage/recycling/composting prices are stupidly high, but I love how much waste we are able to keep out of the landfills here.
ETA: apparently our cans are actually only 8 gallon.