Composting: A law in Washington? (Seattle, Renton: apartments, neighborhood, disposal)

[CAPGuy]

Hello everyone!

I've just joined the forums here on city data after having lurked for so long. My wife and I are about to move from Texas to the Renton area due to a job opportunity, and everyone's input on the best areas to live have helped us make an informed choice on our new neighborhood. So thanks!

I just have a quick question. During our most recent visit to go see the apartments we'd be moving into, we had dinner with a couple of friends in Seattle. My friend's wife told me that composting (i.e. the storage of ANYTHING organic into a container for recycling) was a law and that the use of your garbage disposal, or throwing away anything organic (like a banana peel) would get you into trouble.

I am unsure if my friend's wife made a legitimate statement or is just trying to push composting on me. I can't find anything online about this type of thing and, albeit coming from a state with a very different political mindset, I have never heard of such a thing before. Is this a real thing?

Thanks everyone, and its great to finally be a contributor of the forums

[Inkpoe]

Yes... and no.

There is a Seattle Compost Law yes... due to the Zero Waste Initiative. It actually applies to Seattle proper (so... You in Renton wouldn't necessarily deal with this). Seattle City Council [Restaurants are already having to deal with this... and you'll see it when you eat out in Seattle.]

I doubt people would get in trouble for using the garbage disposal-- but they are... encouraged to compost.

[Hemlock140]

The key word is "encouraged", there is no law preventing you from throwing away organics or using the garbage disposal.
Seattle does have some of the highest sewer rates in the country and it's going up but composting won't make much difference on that. I expect this program to fail when there is a big increase in rats and mice.

[CarlB328]

King County might require it, you should double check.

[HerbGroBox]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

I expect this program to fail when there is a big increase in rats and mice.

Maybe not fail, since they need that big increase in rats and mice to report what you flush down the drain. How else will they know what was flushed.

Reminds me about a article years ago, from a major newspaper in south TX, the water company of a large city told a reporter that they could measure the amount of water going down the sewer lines of a home. Many people believed it to be true.

[noexcuseforignorance]

Originally Posted by CAPGuy

I am unsure if my friend's wife made a legitimate statement or is just trying to push composting on me. I can't find anything online about this type of thing and, albeit coming from a state with a very different political mindset, I have never heard of such a thing before. Is this a real thing?

Thanks everyone, and its great to finally be a contributor of the forums

The mindset here is intelligent. It's stupid to pay more money to send things to trash when you can recycle or compost. To boot, your garbage bin doesn't fill up as quickly.

The difference in Texas would be that they don't want big government telling them what to do so they pay more for garbage as they don't recycle or compost. It's not an intelligent viewpoint.

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by noexcuseforignorance

The mindset here is intelligent. It's stupid to pay more money to send things to trash when you can recycle or compost. To boot, your garbage bin doesn't fill up as quickly.

The difference in Texas would be that they don't want big government telling them what to do so they pay more for garbage as they don't recycle or compost. It's not an intelligent viewpoint.

Hmm... if the mindset here is intelligent, then why did the OP's friend not seem to understand and relay what the Seattle Compost Law really was? And since when does recycling denotes intelligence? What you're talking about is practicality.



My friend in Texas told me that it's not really cost-effective to recycle in Texas and that was why as a whole, they don't recycle. And that also they are very slowly heading towards that direction anyways. Nothing to do with intelligence or "big government".

[HerbGroBox]

Researchers are examining the agricultural use of biosolids, the nutrient-rich organic material resulting from the treatment of sewage sludge.

Capital Press
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. --

[sll3454]

Originally Posted by HerbGroBox

Researchers are examining the agricultural use of biosolids, the nutrient-rich organic material resulting from the treatment of sewage sludge.

Capital Press
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. --

Treatment? That's pretty fancy. Here in NC the septic truck goes straight from emptying the tank to spraying the cattle farm.