Food + Yard Waste Guidelines

Compost to save money.

• A 96-gallon food yard waste cart is included weekly with residential garbage service.
• Businesses and apartments and condos can request no-cost food scrap collection service.
• By putting food scraps, yard waste, and food-soiled paper in your gray cart, you generate less trash. With less trash, you can opt for a smaller (and cheaper) garbage service level.

Composting helps the climate.

• Food in the landfill breaks down very slowly in a process that emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
• Landfills are the third largest source of human-related methane emissions in the US because of all the food and other organic materials that get thrown away. Methane is captured at King County's landfill but it is best to prevent methane production rather than harvest it.

Compost enriches soil.

• The process of breaking down food and yard waste produces compost, a nutrient-rich fertilizer.
• Composting food and yard waste "closes the loop" so the nutrients in them can be returned to the soil.

Compost filters pollution.

• Compost is used in stormwater projects to clean runoff to protect our lakes, rivers, and wetlands.
• You can add a raingarden to capture and filter runoff in your yard!

Follow these tips to keep your countertop food scrap pail smelling fresh all year:

• Empty it into your gray food yard cart multiple times a week
• Use a compostable bag so you can toss the liner with all the food scraps and food-soiled paper into the gray cart
• Wash your countertop food scrap container regularly
• Sprinkle baking soda over food scraps or wrap them in newspaper to absorb odor and liquid
• Consider storing your container in the refrigerator or even freezer, especially during hot summer months: food scraps stay drier and last longer

All your food and yard waste goes to Lenz in Stanwood, where it's turned into compost in a matter of weeks. The average household's food scraps and yard trimmings produce approximately five yards of compost each year.

Decomposition requires the right ratio of carbon ("browns") to nitrogen ("greens"). The composting facility has to adjust their recipe of browns and greens to keep the process running smoothly.

Food and yard waste is chopped up and mounded into piles covered with a breathable material (like your Gore-tex jacket) for weeks. Inside, the piles reach 170 degrees F, hot enough to kill bacteria and break down pesticides. The compost is screened to remove items that didn't break down, then piled up for a second round of composting and screening.

Composting in your backyard is a great way to keep the nutrients from your yard trimmings in your own garden.

Types of Composting

There are three methods that people can use to recycle their organic waste:

Curbside Pickup: Placing your compostable materials in your gray cart and Waste Management will whisk them away each week to a facility for processing into compost

Backyard composting: Using a composting bin to collect your organic waste and composting it right in your backyard

Vermicomposting: Using a worm bin and worms to break down your food and yard waste into compost

How Backyard Composting Works

Create compost from a combination of "brown" and "green" materials, kept appropriately moist and turned at certain intervals.

• brown materials are carbon rich, such as dead leaves, branches, or twigs
• green materials are nitrogen rich, such as grass clippings, vegetable waste, and coffee grounds

If you want to compost food scraps, a worm bin may be a better choice.

Learn How to Compost in Your Backyard

Local non-profit Tilth Alliance offers plans for building a backyard composting system and worm composting system, and also offers classes teaching gardening skills like composting.

Composting all your food scraps and yard waste is the first step. Use compost in your own yard to return nutrients to the soil, suppress weeds, and reduce watering needs.