This time next year, city leaders say, Seattle residents will be able to toss meat and dairy scraps into yard-waste containers and quit separating recyclable materials under new solid-waste contracts.
The new solid-waste collection contracts with Waste Management Inc. and Seattle-based newcomer CleanScrapes bring these changes in garbage and recyclables services:
- All single-family homes will be offered weekly instead of the current biweekly food and yard-waste collection, which will include for the first time meat and dairy scraps. The food waste will be turned into compost for local parks and gardens. That is expected to halve the 45,000 tons of food waste annually going to landfills.
Residents who don't pay for yard-waste pickup could dump food scraps into a sealable container.
- Recyclable glass no longer will have to be separated from recyclable paper and plastics, and more kinds of plastics -- including plastic cups and deli containers, but not foam -- will become recyclable.
- The new collection contracts will expand the city's Dumpster-Free Alley plan, which is designed to cut illegal activity around trash bins and reduce waste in alleys and business areas.
- Sixty percent of the collection trucks will run on a bio-diesel blend, and 40 percent will run on compressed natural gas, expected to dramatically reduce pollutants.
