Going compostal over this?

Wilma Flintstone had it easy.

Her garbage can was a live pelican, and she had a pig under her sink that swallowed everything Fred couldn't. It's just as cartoonish that we're a city of educated people paralyzed by garbage. Ever since the Seattle City Council decided Monday that all single-family homes must sign up (and pay) for "table-scrap recycling" in 2009, I've talked more trash than when the Yankees were in town.

Eggshells are OK, but what about the leftover scramble? And what if there's pepperoni stuck to the pizza box? Isn't meat prohibited?

Brett Stav is the Seattle Public Utilities person charged with teaching Seattle what to do with what it can't use. It's like teaching remedial math — that smells.

"We are having a lot of conversations with our customers," Stav said, kindly.

Seattle residents generated 62,000 tons of food waste last year, but put only 12,000 tons in yard-waste bins. City leaders hope to see 20,000 tons recycled this year.

But while Seattle is "out in front of the nation" when it comes to recycling, Stav said, we may be slow to sort our scraps.

In an unscientific online poll that asked whether Seattle Times readers agreed with the council's ruling, 68 percent said no, 29 percent said yes and 3 percent didn't care.

"I'm guessing it speaks to the fact that someone is telling them what to do with their trash," Stav said.

At MacPherson's Fruit & Produce on Beacon Hill, reactions were mixed.

"I'm gonna try recycling, but it's kind of a nuisance," said Ellen Coons, 84, as she examined the corn. "I can understand the reason," she said. "But you've got to change your routine, and a half-hour delay, with the 101 other things we have to do ... "

Down by the cantaloupes, the reaction was much sweeter.

"I happen to think that table-scrap recycling is the greatest thing since sliced bread," said Susan Woods of Olympia.

Woods is a modern-day Wilma Flintstone — she has 24 chickens that eat "everything."

Can't keep hens? Wrap up scraps in newspaper or an ice-cream carton and toss the whole thing in with yard waste, Woods said. Use a paper sack or milk carton. "It's the only thing that's going to keep this planet green."

Stav says the city is working on outreach. Of the 103,000 households that have yard-waste service, 75,000 already put food scraps in their cart at least some of the time.

"So really, we're halfway there," Stav said.

"But it comes down to the city making the service convenient and giving people plenty of education."

Better to be more Wilma than Homer Simpson. He ran for Springfield Sanitation Commissioner on this platform: "Can't someone else do it?"

After Homer was elected, workers were dispatched all over Springfield to cart people's garbage and recycling.

"Everybody was happy for a week," Stav recalled.

And then?

"The city went bankrupt, and Homer had to turn Springfield into a landfill to make money."

D'oh!

Nicole Brodeur's column appears Tuesday and Friday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com.

She got a pretty bin at Whole Foods.