Grocery stores adapt to new organic waste regulations

The change was part of Washington state’s methane emissions law.

Marlene’s Market grocery store in Federal Way is among those taking an innovative approach to reducing organic waste after new regulations went into effect in January.

Starting in January 2024, Federal Way businesses that produce at least eight cubic yards of organic material per week must collect it and send it to an appropriate type of processing facility. Organic waste refers to food and yard scraps and must be treated differently than recycling or garbage.

Marlene’s has launched a community composting system for deli and vegetable items — rotting fruits, vegetables and deli scraps are bagged and then sold for 99 cents a pound, according to a representative from Waste Management, a company serving Federal Way.

The change was made as part of House Bill 1799, which includes more than 20 changes to the law related to methane emissions in Washington state.

On February 15, 2023, the Sound Cities Association and Cedar Grove gave a presentation on the history of the bill, featuring speakers who have experienced similar policy and practice changes regarding organic waste disposal in their communities.

Heather Trim is the executive director of ZeroWaste Washington, and she reminded her audience of the “heat dome that happened two years ago and how intense it was,” and said it was simply “a reminder that the reason we create these types of bills is because of climate change.”

So what does food scraps have to do with the weather? Trim covered the basics in his presentation, explaining that methane is a greenhouse gas, meaning it’s similar to carbon dioxide in that it traps heat from the sun and allows less of it to radiate back into space.

According to the Washington Department of Ecology, “Methane has more than 80 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period and is responsible for more than 25 percent of the temperature impacts of climate change. In landfills, methane is produced by the decomposition of food, vegetation, and other organic materials.”

When these food scraps, vegetation and other organic materials rot without exposure to oxygen, they produce methane. In proper composting facilities, these materials can be broken down and converted into a useful compost product, rather than rotting and producing greenhouse gas.

WM officials contacted 20 of the 21 grocery stores in Federal Way last year before the law took effect to make sure they were set up for success. They also conducted 193 one-on-one interviews and educated businesses in 13 Federal Way shopping centers about recycling.

In the 6 months since the law went into effect, a WM representative said they have seen “an increase in composting tonnage through 2024,” but could not provide specifics on compliance levels. The data that shows the increase in composting tonnage also includes multifamily residential properties, so exact numbers on the results of this law change are not yet available.

The law requires businesses that produce more than eight cubic yards a week to pay to dispose of their organic waste. That’s equivalent to about 67 of the largest household waste bin sizes, according to WM.

WM couldn’t provide an exact cost to businesses under the new law because Federal Way has a fee cap that limits how much each business will have to pay to dispose of waste, including garbage, single-stream recycling and/or compost. If a business already hit that fee cap, its cost wouldn’t increase at all if it added more organic waste disposal services.

A WM employee shared that “for a company, we believe that creating an effective and efficient organic system involves education, equipment, signage, and training staff. The WM external relations team is trained to educate and support companies in creating smart systems and fine-tuning them over time. We go on-site to help companies and provide helpful resources.”