Curious about composting? You’re not alone.
The city-sponsored home composting pilot program on Bainbridge Island kicked off in May with the arrival of 100 small green pails to collect food waste in home kitchens, about two months ahead of the advertised schedule.
High demand spurred the program on to an early start, but those who wish to participate may still have a chance to join. As of July 24, 26 green pails were still available on a first-come first-served basis.
“This program is aimed at encouraging Islanders to compost more and not throw food scraps and other home compostable goods in the trash,” Shannon Hays said, of the city’s communications department. “Overall, the city would love to see all households on Bainbridge Island composting and reducing our food waste that ends up in landfills as much as possible.”
Islanders who join the pilot program will be able to dispose of organic waste right in their kitchen, including most food scraps, like coffee filters, nut shells and bones and some soiled paper-based items, like pizza boxes, egg cartons, shredded paper and fiber-based takeout containers. The pilot is funded by a $50,000 grant from the state Department of Ecology and will last 12 weeks, during which participants must keep a log of the use of their kitchen pail. The preliminary results of the program will start to become available in August, city officials said.
Based on the data, the city will be able to determine how much organic material may potentially be diverted from landfills via an islandwide composting program. While the pilot is not affiliated with local waste services company Bainbridge Disposal, islanders must request a green bin from the agency to collect the kitchen waste once the pail is full — unless they are interested in composting the material at home.
The program is an outgrowth of the 2021 city ordinance to limit the volume of single-use plastic waste created by the island, and factors into the city’s larger Climate Action Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% in 2025 and 90% by 2045. Green waste accounts for about half of municipal garbage in the average American household, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance reports, about a quarter of which is food scraps alone. In 2018, the city estimated that about 4% of the island’s emissions were due to solid waste generation.
On the public-facing side, the city also installed seven organic waste bins in 2023 along the Winslow commercial corridor to collect food waste and plastic-free paper materials.
There are several green waste disposal companies on the island. Bainbridge Disposal handles both residential and commercial recycling, trash and organic waste pickup services, and has served the island for over 50 years. The green bin program is a relatively recent addition; it will take most organic waste, including yard trimmings, but is unable to accept sod, noxious weeds, pet litter or feces, stumps, large sticks over three feet or lumber. The waste is then transferred to a commercial compost facility off-island.
Tilz on Bainbridge specializes in processing yard waste into compost, soil and mulch. The company accepts deliveries of branches, wood, leaves, logs, grass clippings and other garden debris, but does not take sod.
