Kirkland program seeing mixed results

By Nick Perry
Seattle Times Eastside bureau

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Turkey carcasses, ham bones and fruitcake crumbs are being dumped in Kirkland yard-waste carts this season alongside more traditional items such as dried-up holly wreaths and Christmas trees.

Kirkland this month became the first city in the state to recycle residential food waste, although the new program is causing confusion among some residents. The city also is leading the way in other recycling efforts such as collecting unwanted electronic equipment and bags of reusable clothes and linens.

Other cities are looking to expand their recycling programs. Bellevue and Redmond are scheduled to start collecting food scraps from homes in spring. King County plans to begin at least one pilot program on the Eastside next year in which food scraps would be collected from up to 100 restaurants and other businesses.

In Seattle, Mayor Greg Nickels has proposed that the city begin a food-scrap-recycling program by 2005.

The renewed efforts come as the county's Cedar Hills Landfill — which serves almost all the county aside from Seattle — nears capacity. Commercial garbage haulers who now pay $59.50 a ton to dump waste there will begin paying $69.50 a ton in the spring, with further price increases likely, making recycling a more-attractive economic option for them.

Food recycling Kirkland residents can recycle the following food items in yard-waste carts: • Fruit and vegetable peelings and scraps • Meat, fish, cheese, dairy and table scraps • Coffee grounds, coffee filters and tea bags • Eggshells • Food-soiled paper, including paper towels, napkins, food wrap, take-out cartons and greasy pizza boxes The following items are not acceptable for composting: Plastic, plastic foam, diapers, pet waste, pet litter, foil, liquids. Source: Waste Management

The cities also are trying to bolster recycling rates, which have fallen in recent years. The state Department of Ecology this month reported that the state's recycling rate fell from a high of 40 percent in 1995 to 35 percent last year. The state has set in law a goal of 50 percent.

"It's not new and exciting anymore," said Ann Scheerer, who manages Kirkland's recycling program. "People are getting bored with it and a little lazy with it."

To re-energize recycling efforts, Kirkland delivered small, lidded plastic buckets to more than 10,000 households. The idea is that people put the buckets below their sink and fill them with food scraps. They then dump the contents of the buckets into their outdoor yard-waste carts for pickup. Greasy pizza boxes, food wrapping and other larger food-soiled items can be put directly into yard-waste carts.

The contents will end up at Cedar Grove Composting in Maple Valley and will be turned into compost.

There is no charge for yard-waste service in Kirkland, and there will be no extra fee for food-waste recycling.

Despite receiving information packets, refrigerator magnets and Web links explaining the program, some residents still are confused about the recycle plan. Others are unimpressed.

The city has been fielding hundreds of phone calls from people with questions about the new system, Scheerer said, and has so far retrieved about 200 buckets that people have attempted to throw away, either deliberately or accidentally.

Getting customers to understand exactly what is expected of them has proved difficult, said Ben Whitley, the district manager for Waste Management, the company running the Kirkland program.

"Some people put the whole bucket into the cart or leave the bucket outside to be collected," he said.

"A lot of people don't like to collect food scraps," Whitley added. "They have a clean household and don't like the idea of food sitting in the kitchen."

Kirkland should know by February if the food-recycling effort is making a dent in the amount of garbage the city dumps, Scheerer said.

The county estimates that 26 percent of the waste stream is composed of food, napkins and related materials, said Beth Humphreys, who is planning the county's pilot commercial programs.

Much of that is produced by businesses such as restaurants — but collecting from them is more problematic than collecting from households, she said. Health regulations are more stringent, and educating hundreds of restaurant workers will take time.

The county plans to begin the first commercial pilot program in Redmond or Bellevue in the second half of next year, and it may later add pilot programs in Issaquah and Kirkland, Humphreys said. The county also is planning to start collecting residential food scraps from some unincorporated areas next year.

Reaction to other recycling efforts in Kirkland has been modest so far. About 50 households are leaving reusable clothes for collection each week, and about 20 households are dumping old electronic items each week, Scheerer said.

She thinks many people are distracted with other concerns in December and that the programs may catch on in the new year.

Nick Perry: 206-515-5639 or nperry@seattletimes.com

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