Dive Brief:
- The Washington Department of Ecology released updated language in its proposal for its new organic materials management rules this week. The proposal is meant to set guardrails around the pre-processing of organic waste to prevent contamination in finished products like compost.
- The department made several tweaks in response to concerns from composters, including raising the maximum allowable contamination for compost feedstock to 5%, rather than the initially proposed 2%.
- However, the newly released language did not address some composters’ concerns about depackaging. That could result in additional pushback during the rule's public comment period, which lasts through August 13.
Dive Insight:
Washington legislators have passed a series of bills over the last five years that seek to enhance the state's organics collection and processing infrastructure and divert 75% of organic material from landfills by 2030. But composters and anaerobic digestion companies in the state are closely watching regulators' attempts to create guardrails for the expected buildout of organics recycling infrastructure.
Seattle has one of the oldest food waste separation mandates in the country — it encouraged source separation for all food waste and compostable paper in 2009, and made separation mandatory in 2015 for both residents and businesses.
Much of the tension revolves around commingling of materials destined for separate management pathways, like organics that could be composted and waste destined for disposal.
In 2023, the state recovered about 1 million tons of organic material, most of it in the Seattle metropolitan area, according to a recent market study conducted by the Department of Ecology.
That total is expected to triple by 2035 as more jurisdictions are required to provide organic material collection. Escalating requirements are expected to fuel that increase — beginning in 2027, all jurisdictions with more than 25,000 people are required to offer curbside organics collection to single family homes and businesses producing more than 0.25 cubic yards of organic material per week.
Some longtime composters in the region said the system that developed around Seattle's laws trained residents to be responsible for separating materials at the source, giving composters relatively clean material streams. They fear Washington regulators' proposed changes could weaken those habits and create new contamination problems for composters.
The draft rules released by the department this week make some concessions to composters’ concerns. In addition to easing contamination requirements, regulators added language requiring businesses to offer separate bins for waste and recyclable materials.
Beyond the proposed 5% limit, composters still must reduce the contamination themselves or reject the load from a hauler. Jay Blazey, general counsel for Cedar Grove Composting, called the higher threshold an improvement. But he said the Seattle-based composter still fears an uneven playing field with depackaging facilities, which do not need to worry about inbound contamination as pre-processing facilities and can therefore accept more material.
"Depackaging serves an important role for hard-to-separate materials such as yogurt cups, individually packaged food items, and products that cannot reasonably be source separated," Blazey said. "The question is where the line should be drawn."
The proposal would make several other changes to organic waste pre-processing rules as well. Regulators said they aim to simplify training and permit requirements, create new permit exemptions for agricultural and small-scale composting operations, and clarify onsite storage and transportation requirements for solid waste.
Anaerobic digestion and depackaging proponents have been largely supportive of the rule changes, arguing that solely relying on consumers’ ability to hand sort materials will not be enough to reduce contamination, nor will it allow the state to divert organic material at scale.
"Organics management systems must reflect the reality of today's food supply chain,” Chris Thomas, vice president of public affairs at Divert, said in a statement. “The regulations acknowledge that pre-processing solutions such as mechanical depackaging, are not optional when transforming commercial food into clean soil amendment products, they are a prerequisite.”
The Department of Ecology plans to hold two information sessions on August 5 and 6, during which regulators will hold a presentation and question and answer session followed by an opportunity for formal public comment.
