Washington city adds organics collection to waste service

The city of Bellingham, Washington, will offer organic waste collection as part of standard waste service to all single-family households in 2025, with officials saying the service will help Bellingham reduce waste, lower climate emissions and meet future statewide requirements.

In 2022 and 2024, the state passed two organics management laws that set goals to divert 75 percent of organic material from landfills over the coming years.

All Bellingham single-family customers of Sanitary Service Company, the Bellingham-based company that manages residential recycling and waste collection for the city, living in buildings with four units or fewer will receive FoodPlus!, the company’s organic waste management service. The service comes with a monthly fee.

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Bellingham City Council approved a resolution to add organics collection as a required service for all single-family homes in February 2023. Yellow-lidded, 60-gallon FoodPlus! bins will be picked up every other week. Customers can place food scraps, food-soiled papers, yard waste and approved compostable packaging in the bins.

“These improvements to our solid waste collection, along with the city’s ban on single-use plastics, will result in a reduction in the city’s carbon emissions, higher values for our recyclable commodities and higher-quality compost,” Bellingham City Council President Dan Hammill says.