Why This Measure Matters

Less waste to landfill indicates that either less waste is generated, more material is getting recycled, or both. Waste reduction and recycling reduce environmental impact, water and energy use from both production and collection.

 

What’s the Story?

Policies

• 2008-2013 Waste ReSources Plan, set a 5% waste reduction target over the 2005 baseline.
• Programs put in place or enhanced to reduce waste disposed, including grasscycling, school education, adding food scraps to compost and residential single and multi-family outreach.
• Solid Waste rates (fees) are set to encourage less disposal and increase recycling, which is attributed to keeping per capita waste down while total waste and population have increased.
• In 2020, the City removed glass from its recycle acceptance list, shifting about 280 tons to drop-off collection, and 600 tons to landfill.

External Influences

• 2007/08. Sharp decline in waste to landfill beginning of the great recession. Historically, solid waste disposal patterns follow economic trends, i.e. more waste is disposed during better economic times and vice versa. 
• As the economy picked up after 2012, the amount of waste disposed began to increase. Since the Covid-19 pandemic waste has dipped, climbed, and falling again.
• In 2018, Thurston County reduced the list of accepted items for composting which increased landfill disposal by 300 tons. 
• A dip in per-capita waste to landfill in 2020 is attributed to the impacts of  the Covid-19 pandemic and closing, or significant reduction in business activity, and reduced consumption and disposal of unnecessary material goods.

 

Target

3.83 lbs. per person, per day

 

Reporting frequency

Annual