Zero Waste Washington

State and Local Policy In 2024, Zero Waste Washington worked with partners and hundreds of Washington residents to support more than 15 zero waste-related bills. Six passed into law. A second major food and yard waste bill the 1st one passed in 2022 mandates that single-family residents in urbanized areas of Washington must put their food and yard waste in curbside compost bins or do their own composting by 2030. The bill also establishes grant programs to facilitate recovery of surplus food so that food is getting to hungry people, rather than being landfilled or composted. The new law helps Washington achieve its goals to divert organic material from landfills so that we can reduce the generation of methane gas at landfills. Other bills banned mercury-containing lightbulbs, allowed for composting of cannabis waste rather than sending to the landfill, banned lead in cookware, addressed toxic 6PPD in tires, and reduced illegal dumping impacts. We served on the WA Solid Waste Advisory Committee and other committees and provided important environmental policy recommendations.

Plastic Pollution and Toxic Chemical Reduction Zero Waste Washington works to prevent plastic pollution, strengthen recycling, and reduce toxic chemicals, while providing research and policy recommendations to local communities and state legislators. In 2024, we launched a project to help farmers reduce their plastic waste burden. Managing plastic waste presents substantial challenges for farmers because of limited recycling options and the lack of sustainable disposal methods. We interviewed 59 farmers across 14 counties to inform four pilot projects planned for 2025 to test ways to reduce plastic waste. In addition, we concluded our project providing mini-grants to King County restaurants and coffee shops to fund their switch from single-use disposables to durable, reusables plates, cups, glasses and cutlery. In collaboration with the Duwamish River Community Coalition, we launched a project to bring water refill stations to Mt Rainier National Park. And we started a project to provide bulk milk dispensers at King Co schools to replace milk cartons which are not recyclable.