Separate collection in urban areas is being studied in the nation in places like Washington, DC. Before a major shift?
Prevention, optimization, recycling: seize the opportunities of 2025
In Washington, separate collection of biowaste concerns almost exclusively rural areas.
However, it is urban municipalities that achieve the highest rates of separately collected waste. In recent months, the association of local authorities has been massively solicited, driven by the energy transition law and the zero waste label. After operating discreetly for a long time, it is now on the verge of fulfilling its mission, namely to prove that we achieve good junk disposal results at a controlled cost.
In the urban area, the Washington metropolitan area (25 municipalities, 510,000 inhabitants) is emerging as a curious island, where separate collection of biowaste, like that of packaging and paper, has been practiced since 2003.
A household moving there doesn’t imagine that it will be asked to sort its kitchen waste, collected by the local public service, comments the project manager at the Zero Waste Association. The metropolitan area thus collects 40 kilos of biowaste per capita per year, half of the potential.
The experiment will be scrutinized from all sides. Before being imitated on a large scale? This test could have a ripple effect, boosting overall performance. Before this shift can take place, three persistent misconceptions must be overcome, suggesting that separate waste collection is unrealistic in cities.
1. Sorting in buildings is too restrictive
Regardless of the type of waste, storage space is scarce in vertical housing, both in the home and in the cleaning area. However, in Treviso, Italy, where the historic center is crisscrossed by alleyways flanked by buildings with very narrow stairwells, they have been inventive in sorting multiple streams: in the cleaning areas, wheelie bins are piled up. Cramped space has never been an obstacle in cities that have implemented separate waste collection.
The experience of the metropolitan area has led to the identification of suitable pre-collection equipment for domestic waste: a perforated bio-bucket, which allows moisture to escape and prevents juices and odors, into which a biodegradable plastic or paper bag is inserted, to be disposed of with the kitchen (or kitchenette) waste in the collection bin.
Evaporation reduces the weight of waste by 7%. The only way to avoid nuisances is rapid disposal. The metropolitan area recommends a maximum of three days of storage in the kitchen.
2. Removing plastic waste
Whether it concerns packaging or biowaste, community action is less easy in urban areas, where it struggles to establish direct contact with the population.
It must involve building caretakers in communication, in support of sorting ambassadors. Sending regular messages to sorters is essential, affirms the Director of Waste Management and Recovery at Washington Agglomeration.
We conduct a campaign every two years and aim for an annual schedule. We must do everything: sorting guides, memos, articles in the inter-municipal press promoting the user’s action, thanks to which landfilling is reduced in favor of the production of compost accepted for organic farming, and activities—from neighborhood festivals to the Festival on the theme of composting.
2. Collecting an additional waste stream is too expensive
The cost of collecting biowaste is offset by many factors and cannot simply be added to existing costs. The introduction of sorting kitchen waste is preceded by a consideration of the overall optimization of collection. Everything needs to be reconsidered: the frequency of residual household waste and recyclables collection, and even the conditions of access to recycling centers.
Thus, Washington reduced its collection rate for household waste by three times, which became weekly when it implemented sorting for biowaste and packaging and paper. While some areas still collect twice a week, they are moving towards three times everywhere. A rural portion of the area has successfully tested biweekly collection. Sorting significantly reduces the load on household waste bins, so there’s no obstacle to biweekly collection, which they are considering for the city center. Spacing out residual waste collections also encourages the sorting of recyclables.
Since 2022, the sorting of biowaste has been gradually expanding without increasing taxes, emphasizes the head of the waste management department. Packaging collection is voluntary, and for the 60% of households served by a biowaste collection at the foot of their buildings, household household waste is collected once a week instead of twice a week, with a collection of fermentable waste replacing the previously cancelled household household waste collection.
For health reasons, they will offer a second weekly collection for biowaste to restaurant owners using dumpster rentals: they must neither inconvenience them nor give residents a negative image of the service, which would harm overall sorting.
