Beginning the first of this year the city of Seattle is prohibiting the disposal of a host of recyclable material, including paper and corrugated containers, aluminum and bi-metal cans, and bottles from commercial waste streams. Yard waste, which has been on the list of materials to be excluded from residential waste, has been expanded to include commercially generated yard waste. .
Ordinance 121372 is being implemented in phases. For businesses and residents putting significant amounts of recyclables in their trash cans they will receive educational material. However, starting next year, repeated notices may be followed with fines for businesses, and additional charges for multi-family customers, as well as delayed collection for single-family residents.
To increase the level of recycling, Seattle will introduce several new recycling services to assist businesses and residents with their recycling efforts. The service enhancements include: commercial food scrap collection; more frequent collection of yard waste, vegetable food waste added to yard waste, new yard waste collection carts, new public place recycling containers, and free curbside recycling for businesses.
Residential Recycling Improvements will include: residential yard waste will be collected every other week at no additional cost to customers; yard waste subscribers will be provided with free 96-gallon wheeled containers next spring and soon will be able to add certain types of vegetable food waste and compostable paper to their yard waste.
For commercial recycling efforts, the city will be introducing the following: free, bi-weekly curbside recycling will be available to businesses; restaurants, grocers, and other food service businesses will be provided, at a discounted cost, a full range of container sizes and collection frequencies that will be included in the service, set to begin the middle of this year; all collected material will be composted at the Cedar Grove Composting facility; and business districts throughout the city will receive 300 new public recycling containers that will provide sidewalk collection points for cans and bottles.