Safeco Field getting greener as more garbage composted

In the first three ballgames at Safeco Field this year, 70 percent of the service ware — cups, plates, even eating utensils — used by Mariners fans and employees was recycled or composted.

That's a huge increase from last year, when 38 percent didn't go to a landfill.

Seattle Mariners spokeswoman Rebecca Hale said the emphasis on keeping food-serving-and-eating items out of the trash will save the team about $100,000 a year in landfill fees; last year, the team saved $60,000.

Beginning July 1, Seattle will become the first city in the nation where all single-use service ware must be either compostable or recyclable. That means Seattle will stop sending 6,000 tons of plastic and plastic-coated paper products to a landfill, or 225 shipping containers of waste.

While the law doesn't go into effect until July 1, the Mariners decided to start now with the beginning of its season.

There are just 17 garbage cans at Safeco Field, said Scott Jenkins, vice president of ballpark operations. All the others have been replaced with 300 compost containers and 200 recycling bins.

The Mariners have contracted with Cedar Grove Composting to handle the waste. Plastic bottles make up the largest single number of recyclable items at Safeco, Hale said. Beer "glasses" and the cardboard packaging for bobbleheads are plentiful, too.

At Safeco, crews sift through the garbage to pull out plastic bottles. Almost everything else is compostable. Even the plastic beer glasses and eating utensils can be composted. Jenkins said virtually all that's left as garbage are potato-chip bags, wrappers for licorice ropes and tiny condiment containers.

The key to success, said Jenkins, is educating the fans, who want to throw away their beer glasses and plates.

"We're early in the learning curve, but are doing really well," he said.

He envisions a 70 percent compost and recycling rate this year, and it could even get as high as 85 percent.

Dick Lilly, with Seattle Public Utilities, said the July 1 change is part of a package of laws passed by the Seattle City Council, that included a ban on Styrofoam packaging and the failed effort to put a fee on plastic and paper bags.

He said the packaging industry has stepped up to the challenge; there were 70 food-service products that could be recycled or composted two years ago and now there are 600 approved by Cedar Grove.

"As this thing rolls out, restaurants need to do a lot of customer education," said Lilly.

He admitted that this could mean higher costs to the restaurant, but he doesn't think they will be noticed by customers.

Josh McDonald, a state and local government affairs spokesman with the Washington Restaurant Association, said his group is concerned about the costs. "Some (pieces) will be close to even, and some will be 100 times more per piece. When you add it up, that means increased costs."

He acknowledged that Seattle will be one of the few places in the country with such a broad edict. "Because we're the only place in the country to have these requirements, the packaging is still thought boutique and with it will carry a boutique price tag."

McDonald said restaurants operate on a 4.5 percent profit margin and 11,000 jobs were lost in the last quarter because of the economy, so there is a concern about the extra costs that will be generated by the new packaging rules. He didn't know whether the costs would be passed on to the customers or simply absorbed.

Lilly said the average restaurant can save $200 to $400 a month just by composting kitchen food waste.

He said the new ordinance can bring a $250-a-day fine, but the city doesn't plan to impose it, particularly at the beginning when education is needed.

"As long as we know a restaurant chain is making an effort and talking to us, we're usually OK with that," he said.

Hale, with the Mariners, said it will take a little more manpower at the stadium to sort through the recyclable containers, but she believes it's worth the effort if it saves money. She said the hard part will be teaching fans from out of town. Half of the fans come from outside King County.

"For them, it's new and mysterious and they may default to the garbage, even if we put a recycling bin next to it," Hale said.

In 2005, recycling at Safeco was at 12 percent of the waste. In 2006, it rose to 18 percent, then 25 percent in 2007, 31 percent in 2008 and 38 percent in 2009.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com