By Kelle Rankin-Sunter
At the beginning of this year, the city of Bellingham passed a new law that required every residence to have a yard waste toter as part of their trash service. The howling was heard across the county! It seemed to the casual observer that Bellingham was “just being Bellingham” and making up requirements for lifestyle changes that no one wanted.
But I discovered some interesting information when researching the backstory.
In 2015, it was determined that 1.2 tons of edible and inedible food waste was generated annually in Washington. In 2019, the Food Waste Reduction Act helped to address the issue of edible foods being redirected out of the landfills.
According to the Washington State Department of Agriculture, nearly one in every six people is food insecure across our state. When food is thrown away, we lose more than just nourishment. We also waste the water, energy, labor and other inputs used to grow, harvest and transport that food. This has big costs for everyone, and this law has made a large difference in the donations to our local food banks.
Washington has committed to reducing landfill-disposed organic material by 75 percent by 2030. By 2025, amount of edible food disposed of in the landfill must be reduced by 20 percent. In an attempt to meet these goals, in March 2022, then-governor Jay Inslee signed E2SHB 1799 into law, a bill to reduce food and yard waste in landfills in Washington. The new law puts Washington on the road toward continued food donation, composting and anaerobic digestion.
Composting is a key tool to move organic waste out of the landfill. The Washington State Department of Ecology writes on its website that “composting is an important component of ‘closed loop’ recycling.” The department added that composting could reduce greenhouse gases and provide an important resource for farmers, gardeners and cities. The challenge is education.
Research over the last 20 to 30 years confirms that the disposal of compostable materials into landfills produces not only a significant environmental risk but also a health risk to both humans and animals primarily through the production of methane gas. Compost and other organic materials can improve soil health, water quality and other environmental outcomes when processed in management facilities. However, in order for these facilities to be beneficial to the environment and pencil out financially, it’s important that organic material going into them are free of plastic, pesticides and other materials that could reduce compost quality.
Over the next several years, depending on the residence or business, depositing compostable materials into the landfill won’t be allowed. To help everyone understand why this is an important change, Washington State University Extension, the Whatcom County Library System and Blaine CORE have collaborated to create a series of workshops to be held at Whatcom county branch libraries.
The workshops, titled “Reduce Waste at Home: The Art and Science of Composting, Vermiculture and Waste Reduction,” will be held:
• 5:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 24 at the South Whatcom library;
• 1-3 p.m. Friday, September 26 at the Lynden library;
• 1-3 p.m. Thursday, October 2 at the Lummi Island library;
• 5:30-7:30 Wednesday, October 29 at the Ferndale library;
• 1-3 p.m. Saturday, November 1 at the Everson library;
• 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, November 5 at the Blaine library;
• And from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, December 6 at the Point Roberts library. For more information on the organics management law, visit the Washington State Department of Ecology website at bit.ly/4mCkXiP. More information can be found at nwcore.org as well.
Kelle Rankin-Sunter is founder of Blaine CORE, which holds free home and gardening classes at Blaine Public Library. Rankin-Sunter can be reached at fruit@Blaine-CORE.com.
Comments are closed.