Zero Waste will save city $50 million tab

By Richard Conlin

On July 16, the City Council unanimously adopted Resolution 30990, establishing the parameters for a Zero Waste Strategy for Seattle.

The Zero Waste Strategy is based on a policy framework that treats waste as a resource. Under this program, the city will rebuild its existing transfer stations and not invest $50 million or more in a new waste transfer facility adjacent to the Georgetown neighborhood. The Zero Waste Strategy defines goals and policies that will increase waste reduction and recycling, with new targets of reducing the amount of waste sent to be land filled and increasing recycling rates to 70 percent by 2025.

One amendment to the draft resolution was adopted by my Environment, Emergency Management, and Utilities Committee. The amendment specifies that Seattle Public Utilities must complete its review of possible restrictions on Styrofoam and plastic bags by the end of this year, so that the Council can take up possible action on those issues early in 2008.

In addition to this early implementation action, the city will also begin work on rebuilding the two existing transfer stations, redesigning them to facilitate recycling of materials. The South Transfer Station will go into design this year, with work on the North Transfer Station to follow.

The city will also begin designing the expanded residential food waste recycling, including the container system and frequency of collection. The residential food waste collection outlined in the new legislation includes an exemption for people who compost at home and do not have food waste to dispose of through the city. The current yard waste service with the opportunity to include food waste will be continued. Customers who currently have yard waste bins will not have to add an additional bin for food composting. The new program makes it possible to add meat and dairy scraps to the yard waste bins, with no additional charge. Because more food waste could go into the yard waste, some customers could reduce the size of their current garbage cans and save money.

The Zero Waste Strategy also includes extending food waste collection to multifamily and commercial customers, and program design on that will begin as well, along with regulatory measures and incentives to improve the recycling of construction and demolition waste. Together, food waste and construction debris are the two largest opportunities to improve the city's recycling rate and reduce land filling.

Another early implementation step will be to design pilots for alternatives to individuals using the transfer stations, such as scheduled home pickups or community swap sites. The hope is that programs like this will discourage individuals from going to the transfer stations with relatively small loads, because that generates air pollution and traffic around the sites, and it might be more efficient to have home pickup routes or community centered events. The city will not eliminate the self-service option, but hopes to limit its use by offering other, more convenient alternatives.

Richard Conlin is a Seattle City Council member and can be reached at 684.8805 or richard.conlin@seattle.gov