Restaurants Must Remove Paper in Their Compost

Sorry Little Big Burger. From OPB.org –

A big change is on the way for businesses that compost commercial food waste in Portland.

Metro, the regional government that oversees the city’s commercial food waste collection, is changing the rules for what kind of material it accepts at its Portland transfer station.

Within a year, the program will restrict commercial compost collection in Portland to food scraps only. That means businesses will not be able to compost food-related materials such as soiled cardboard, napkins, plates or compostable plastic utensils. The change does not affect residential curbside food scrap collections.

…On Nov. 1, Metro will no longer accept regular or waxed cardboard as part of the commercial composting program. On March 1, 2015, the transfer station will only accept food scraps. Ehinger said businesses that put too much non-food waste in their composting bins will be charged the higher rate for garbage disposal, and the load will be sent to the landfill instead.

You can read the entire article here