The amount of food waste collected in Seattle, USA, increased 47% in 2009 due to a new system of weekly collection contracts and a tremendous level of customer participation. These figures mean that Seattle’s food waste recycling rate is 10 times the national average in the States.
‘The City of Seattle would like to congratulate residents for substantially increasing the amount of food they recycle,’ said Tim Croll, SPU Solid Waste Director. ‘On any given week, more than half of Seattle subscribers are putting their food and yard waste carts out for collection. By turning our food waste into compost we are keeping Seattle's gardens, yards and parks green and healthy.’
The year 2009 saw Seattle residents collect 89,000 tons (80,739 tonnes) of organic waste which was converted to compost. Over 26,000 tons (23,586 tonnes) was collected from the curb and reused in local gardens instead of going to landfill. This figure was a marked improvement on 2008 in which 20% of the entire 400,000 tons (362,873 tonnes) sent to landfill was food waste.
As a thank you for their contribution, customers received two free bags of compost and free Green Kitchen kits from Seattle Public Utilities and Cedar Grove Composting.
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