Dive Brief:
- As Seattle’s new food waste laws went into effect at the beginning of the year, a local composting company has increased its customer base by 30%.
- Although that sounds like positive news, the company processing the scraps, Cedar Grove, is concerned that with the upswing in novice recyclers, the company could experience some problems if trash is tossed in with the organics, contaminating the scraps.
- The company processes the material and then sells the compost for gardening and other needs.
Dive Insight:
Many companies collect organic waste in the Seattle area, but it usually ends up at a Cedar Grove facility. The company processes a majority of the scraps at one of its two facilities.
Seattle adopted the food waste law as part of an effort to increase its recycling rate to 60% by the end of 2015. The City Council anticipates 38,000 pounds of food scraps will be diverted from the landfill annually.
