You are here

‘Zero Waste’ Bill Would Require DC Restaurants To Compost Food Scraps

December 17, 2019

Original content: DCist
By Jacob Fenston

What would it take to keep most of the waste produced in DC out of landfills and incinerators? It would require wide-ranging changes to how residents and businesses deal with what they toss out — from batteries to glass bottles — according to new legislation making its way through the DC Council.


Sequoia Ireland works the compost drop off site in Columbia Heights. The city is trying to increase its rate of composting.
Photo Credit: Jacob Fenston / WAMU

What would it take to keep most of the waste produced in DC out of landfills and incinerators? It would require wide-ranging changes to how residents and businesses deal with what they toss out—from batteries to glass bottles—according to new legislation making its way through the DC Council.

Among the provisions of the zero waste bill: restaurants would have to start composting food scraps. Many residents and environmentalists spoke in favor of the proposal during a hearing on Monday.

Jeremy Brosowsky runs the compost pickup business Compost Cab and had a blunt message for councilmembers.

“Fundamentally: food in landfill is bad, food in compost is good,” Brosowsky said. “All composting is good composting relative to landfilling.”

He noted that composting is good for the environment for several reasons: it reduces landfill emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas many times more potent than carbon, and turns waste into a valuable resource that improves soil.

DC has a goal of diverting 80 percent of its waste from landfills and incinerators by 2032. For years, that rate has hovered around 20 percent.

Representatives of the food industry were generally supportive of the waste diversion goal, but did not like this method of moving toward the goal.

“The primary concern of bars, restaurants, and nightclubs is that this legislation puts the cart before the horse,” said Mark Lee, head of the DC Nightlife Council, a local trade association. Lee said there aren’t enough composting facilities in the region to handle all the food waste this requirement would divert.

Another industry representative, Andrew Kline, legislative counsel with the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington, recommended using incentives rather than more requirements. One mandate, in particular, he found onerous.

“Please, no more required signs,” Kline said. Required signs, telling employees how to dispose of food waste, would add to ‘message clutter,’ with the potential for more fines from inspectors, he added.

The legislation would also cut down on disposable plasticware—for example, requiring reusable plates and cups for any dining on premises.

Elizabeth Linske, a graduate student at Georgetown who testified in support of the zero waste act, said she saw the impact of plastic pollution on wildlife while working as a marine biologist.

“I saw numerous plastic ingestion cases, where plastic items cause intestinal blockages, eventually leading to an animal’s demise,” Linske said.

Among the bill’s many other provisions: the creation of a new recycling system for batteries; a requirement for recycling bins in public spaces; a requirement that businesses recycle glass separately — keeping glass from contaminating other recyclables.

This story originally appeared on WAMU.

Related Issues & Advocacy Categories:
Jurisdiction:
Maryland
Virginia
Washington DC