Seattle piles on to its national leadership in composting

Kirsten Whittemore, of West Seattle, has bits and pieces of the city's decomposed leftovers all over her garden.

It's compost, a product Seattle residents seem to be adept at producing. Analysts at Seattle Public Utilities say Seattle residents are recycling food at 10 times the national average. They also say Seattle's compost rates climbed 47 percent between 2008 and 2009.

Seattle Public Utilities and Cedar Grove Composting, the company that changes yard and food waste into compost, are hosting Compost Days to thank their customers for recycling their food. The event lasts from April 15 to May 30 and Seattle residents can pick up free bags of compost from locations throughout the city. A regular bag with one cubic foot of Cedar Grove compost costs about $4 at stores in Seattle.

During 2009, Seattle Public Utilities measured 26,400 tons of food scraps collected from Seattle residents' homes, enough to make nearly 10,000 tons of compost. According to the utility, a Seattle family of four recycles about 220 pounds of food, which yields 80 pounds of compost.

The city has collected more compost each year since 2005, when it first began collecting food scraps. But the 2008 to 2009 increase is the largest.

Jenny Bagby from Seattle Public Utilities attributes the increase to two 2009 policy changes. Seattle Public Utilities switched from bi-weekly to weekly pickups for yard waste and food scraps while also allowing residents to place all food scraps in their yard-waste bins. Before the change, residents couldn't recycle foods like steak or eggs into their bins.

Bagby expects residents to compost more during 2010 as more residents begin to recycle their food through the city. She said many residents have switched from making compost in their backyards to putting food scraps and yard debris in their compost bins.

The city likes compost because it helps keep the cost of utilities low. Seattle Public Utilities has less waste to manage when it keeps leftover food and yard debris out of landfills. Compost also helps the city deal with stormwater runoff. Nutrient-rich compost attracts worms and microbes that poke holes in the soil. When it rains, the water has a place to go.

"It creates a giant sponge," said Carl Woestwin from Seattle Public Utilities.

But a policy push from the city isn't the only reason people are recycling food. Seattle residents refrain from chucking their food scraps into the garbage because they want to help the environment.

"We really like that we can give it to the city," said Whittemore, a West Seattle resident who uses compost in her yard. "It's easier. It feels good just not putting things in landfills but giving back to the Earth."

Compost Days began Thursday with a compost giveaway in West Seattle and a delivery of compost to the Delridge P-Patch.

Waiting to receive the truckload of compost were a few gardeners.

Patrick Bergner, a P-patch gardener, shoveled the compost into his wheelbarrow and dumped it on his plot, where he said he wants to grow beets and squash. He said he was thankful for Cedar Grove's delivery, which will help him add a few inches of good soil to his garden.

But he also said he keeps a worm bin at home and wonders why people who want to save money would ever buy compost.

"We end up giving our yard's nutrients to Cedar Grove and they sell it back to us," he said. "If you have leaves falling in your backyard, it's free."

Andrew Doughman: 206-464-3195 or adoughman@seattletimes.com