Seattle Takes On Fast Food Packaging – Emulates Bay Area Cities
Seattle is getting ready to become the first city in the country to eliminate fast-food packaging from the landfill. Starting July 1, most of the wrappers, cups and packaging that comes with a restaurant meal will have to be recyclable or compostable. Seattle Public Utilities analysts predict this will keep a minimum 6,000 tons of waste out of the landfill each year --about the same amount as a garbage train 100 cars long. Safeco Field is getting a head start on the new rules. This season staff worked with vendors to replace the food packaging at the ballpark with recyclable and compostable alternatives, and staff removed most of the garbage cans, replacing them with bins for compostables. There are still some items that go in the garbage, such as Pepsi cups, potato chip and kettle corn wrappers and tartar sauce containers, but the program has been a success.