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Food

Seattle Will Now Shame You If You Try to Throw Away Food

A new law in Seattle fines and literally bestows a scarlet letter upon citizens and businesses who don't compost their pizza crusts and Sriracha-smeared napkins.
Hilary Pollack
Los Angeles, US
Photo via Flickr user Karl Faktor

Sometimes you experience a grave lapse in food-based judgement—such as feeling curious about Red Velvet Oreos, or convincing yourself in a moment of attempted self-improvement to buy leather-tough spelt bread for "health's sake"—and, after one bite, realize that you are faced with the inedible. Or, perhaps in a state of non-sobriety, you've purchased three packs of powdered doughnuts and then been forced to reckon with their presence the following morning, when you frown with the memory of nearly choking to death on one.

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Your natural inclination would be to throw these poor excuses for sustenance straight in the garbage, out of sight and out of mind. But Seattle has other plans for you. "Listen up, you pathetic excuse for an environmentalist," Seattle says, eyes bloodshot and neck veins pulsing. "You're not throwing those doughnuts away. You're going behind your house and making a godforsaken compost pile like the rest of us. You will watch as they are nibbled on by squirrels and eventually homogenize into the rest of the slop that you've discarded out there. And if you don't have a yard, you're going to wait right here until the Compost Squad rolls up and hauls them off."

Well, that's what's happening—sort of. (Seattle is a nice place to live, and doesn't have eyes or neck veins.) This month, Seattle began enforcing a new law that prohibits commercial and residential garbage from containing food. Since 2005, it has been illegal in the Washington city to include recyclable items—such as paper, cups, jars, cans, and cardboard—in your trash. Now, as of January 1, it's also against the law to try to toss out food, compostable paper, and "food-contaminated" paper napkins and paper towels.

Citizens, property managers, and businesses instead have the option of paying for compost collection service, driving the waste to a food waste processing site, or composting it themselves on-site.

So much for ignorantly tossing out that pile of paper napkins smeared with the florescent-orange afterglow of Buffalo wing consumption. They're going right next to the gladiola patch this month—the worms will be thrilled.

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One interesting tactic interlaced with the new law is that defiers' trash bins will be tagged with highly visible red notices, a sort of Scarlet Letter that punishes non-composters rather than adulterers. Your neighbors will surely point, wave, and spread hideous rumors about you if you're seen with such a flag of bloody shame.

The monetary fines are less intimidating for homeowners; single-family properties will have to be a measly $1 for their FAILURE TO COMPLY, while businesses and apartment buildings will receive two warnings before being charged a $50 fine.

Those granola-guzzlers in Seattle aren't the least bit worried about their mildly inconvenient but thoroughly honorable effort, as 74 percent said that they support the requirement in a recent survey, while only 11 percent opposed. (Several other cities, such as San Francisco, already have similar ordinances in place.)

The purpose of the new initiative is to reduce and alleviate the some 100,000 tons of food waste that the city—which has had a standing goal of recycling and composting 60 percent of its waste by the end of this year—contributes to landfills annually. Seattle Public Utilities believes that 38,000 tons of those pizza crusts and banana peels will make their way into compost piles due to the new ordinance. The food waste sent to composting processors will be rendered into compost for local parks and gardens.

Garbage-lovers of Seattle, just remember that if you can't beat 'em, you've got to join 'em. Roll up your sleeves and get ready to befriend some bugs.