Tacoma Residents to Recycle Food Waste Curbside

Tacoma residents will soon be able to toss food scraps and other organics into their curbside yard waste bins. Photo: Flickr/ net_efekt

Tacoma, Wash. will soon join the growing list of states and municipalities putting laws on the books to keep food waste out of landfills.

Beginning in April, city residents will be able to dispose of food scraps and other organic waste at the curb, according to an article published on Wednesday by The News Tribune in Tacoma.

Residents will deposit their food scraps into curbside yard waste bins, which are currently picked up twice a month, the paper reports. City waste officials will also distribute gallon-sized pails to customers to collect daily kitchen scraps.

READ: San Fran Collects Millionth Ton of Food Scraps

The move comes after a six-month pilot project that has so far proved successful, the paper reports. In addition to testing out curbside food waste collection, the pilot’s broader aim was to help the city decide if it should move to a biweekly garbage collection from its currently weekly service.

“The feedback has been really positive [for reduced trash collection],” Mike Slevin, assistant public works director, told The News Tribune. “If we don’t see any big changes in the data, [the city council's] recommendation will be to take it forward.”

The council will decide early next year whether to approve biweekly trash pickups, the paper reports. If approved, reduced pickups will likely go citywide in January 2013, Slevin said.

READ: Reduce Your Food Waste in 10 Minutes

Set to close its landfill by 2013, Tacoma is in search of solutions to reduce waste. While cutting back on garbage pickups will be a big help, the program will take time to implement. But food waste recycling is much easier to launch – as it does not require council approval or a change in pickup schedules, Slevin told The News Tribune.