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Committee reviews compost procurement ordinance; staff to present to full council
Summary
The Parks and Public Works Committee reviewed an ordinance requiring the city to use locally generated compost where practicable and to report compost generation and use to the Washington Department of Ecology; staff will present the ordinance to the next available city council meeting.
The Parks and Public Works Committee heard a presentation Oct. 7 on an ordinance that would require the city to use locally generated compost in city projects where practicable and to report compost use and generation to the Washington Department of Ecology on a biennial basis.
"It's just an ordinance that is directing the city on how to utilize compost, moving forward and codifying it into our code," said project engineer Patrick Fry. Fry said the rule would apply to capital improvement projects and to some operations work, such as landscaping, and would prioritize locally produced compost rather than retail bagged products.
Committee members were told the requirement follows state policy to reduce organic material to landfills and help lower methane emissions. Fry said the state target is a 75% reduction in organic material sent to landfills by 2030 and that the Department of Ecology is collecting initial data to inform any future rules.
Fry said the ordinance, as drafted, uses the same "practicable" standard found in state law: compost use is required where it makes sense for the project and is not cost-prohibitive. He and council members discussed cost thresholds; a council member asked whether a 10% cost increase would be considered impracticable, and Fry acknowledged the ordinance follows the state practicability standard and that cost-prohibitive situations would be excluded.
The committee discussed likely effects on city operations. Fry said the Urban Forestry staff generally produce and use their own wood chips and will not need to change practices. He said most landscaping and restoration work accounts for roughly 1%–5% of project cost, and that specifying compost in project bid documents is unlikely to materially increase total project costs. Fry cautioned that the largest implementation burden will be staff time to collect and tally compost-use data for the required biennial Ecology report.
Fry said the city currently reports essentially zero city-used compost because the city has not previously tracked compost used in CIP projects; moving forward, the city will track volumes hauled in for projects and the amount collected by the city's hauler. Fry identified likely local compost sources such as King County facilities and Cedar Grove.
Committee chair Catherine Cotton asked staff to take the ordinance to the next available full council meeting for consideration. No formal council vote on the ordinance occurred at the committee meeting; the item was set to be presented to the city council for further action.
The committee approved routine minutes and then moved on to other agenda items.
