King County launches food waste education program

Recycle Food. It's Easy to Do' campaign encourages food waste in yard waste cart

Roughly one third of the average King County resident's garbage can is filled with food scraps and food-soiled paper - items that are readily recyclable with yard waste, but ending up in the garbage instead.

To improve recycling rates and to save landfill space for what really needs to be there, King County's Solid Waste Division has launched its "Recycle Food. It's Easy to Do" campaign, encouraging residents to recycle food waste in their yard waste carts.

Through this campaign, King County plans to educate residents about the types of food waste that can be recycled and offer tips on how to make it convenient in the home. For example, there are several easy options for collecting food scraps and food-soiled paper in the kitchen, and some communities offer free or discounted containers upon request.

"King County residents do a good job of recycling, but many are unaware that they can also recycle food and food-soiled paper with their yard waste," said King County Executive Ron Sims. "Food waste can be recycled and turned into compost to make our yards and parks beautiful, while at the same time reducing the amount of garbage going to the landfill."

By recycling items such as fruit and vegetable trimmings, soiled paper towels and napkins, egg shells, coffee grounds, and even used pizza boxes, King County residents can make a significant impact on the amount of garbage going to the Cedar Hills Regional Landfill, the only operational landfill in the county. Residents in many areas can put meat, fish, poultry, bones and dairy products in the yard waste cart.

Several King County cities began residential food waste recycling in 2004, and it has since been made available to almost half of all county residents, including 13 suburban cities and unincorporated King County areas. More areas are expected to launch food scrap recycling programs in 2007.

Once picked up at the curbside, yard waste and food scraps are taken to privately owned Cedar Grove Composting (www.cgcompost.com), where it is transformed into nutrient-rich compost that is sold as an environmentally preferable natural yard care product.

"Recycling and composting are easy steps residents can take to care for the environment," Sims said. "It's closing the recycling loop in a way that can benefit everyone."

To find out if your city offers food waste recycling, and to learn more about what can be recycled, visit www.recyclefood.com. To obtain a yard waste cart and begin recycling food scraps, contact your garbage hauler for more information.
 
"Recycle Food. It's Easy to Do" is an extension of King County's year-long "Recycle More. It's Easy to Do" campaign that launched last September and focused on encouraging residents to recycle more of their paper, cardboard, plastic and glass.

More information about King County recycling programs is available on the SWD Web site, at http://www.metrokc.gov/dnrp/swd/