Seattle’s recycling ordinance, beginning January 2005, prohibits Seattle businesses from putting cardboard, paper and yard debris into the garbage. Go to City of Seattle Ordinance Number 121372 to view the Seattle Municipal Code.

Starting January 1, 2006, businesses with significant amounts of these materials in their garbage will receive two warning notices before being issued a $50 fine. “Significant amount” means a commercial garbage container or self-haul vehicle’s load that contains more than 10% recyclables by volume based on a visual inspection.

Exceptions include: Commercial customers without adequate space for recycling and no opportunity for sharing recycling containers with contiguous businesses or apartments (as determined by a Seattle Public Utilities inspector).

The ordinance also prohibits residents (both single-family and multi-family) from putting recyclable paper, cardboard, plastic bottles and glass, as well as aluminum and tin cans in their garbage containers. For information on residential recycling services, visit Seattle Public Utilities’ Web site.

Why A Ban?

Seattle spends more than $26 million every year to send 920 million pounds of garbage to a landfill, where it will sit for thousands of years. About 25% of that waste is made up of recyclable paper, cardboard, aluminum cans, plastic bottles and yard debris.

Why waste a good thing? That's what Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and Seattle City Council members asked last in December of 2003 when they passed recycling regulations that aim to save residents and businesses as much as $2 million each year and keep future garbage bills low.

New Recycling Regulations and Frequently Asked Questions in Multiple Languages

Describes the new recycling regulations and answers the most commonly asked questions about the ordinance.
Chinese (PDF, 284 kb) | English (PDF, 74 kb) | Korean (PDF, 246 kb) | Spanish (PDF, 109 kb) | Thai (PDF, 98 kb)| Vietnamese (PDF, 121 kb)

Administrative Rule #SPU-DR-01-04: Prohibition of Recyclables in Garbage (PDF, 18 kb)
This administrative rule defines “significant amounts of recyclables” for the purposes of educational notices and for initial enforcement.

For assistance setting up a recycling program, go to Waste Prevention and Recycling.