Washington Department of Ecology to Update to Organic Materials Management Rules to Reduce Potential Feedstock Contamination

The Washington Department of Ecology is undertaking a rulemaking process to update its organic materials management regulations to include permitting requirements for facilities that manage and process organic materials. The stated purpose is to address contamination of food waste feedstocks and finished products pursuant to HB 2301, a 2024 state law that sets new requirements in connection with state efforts to reduce the amount of organic materials sent to landfills.¹ Organic materials include manure, yard waste, food waste, food processing wastes, wood wastes, and garden wastes.²

HB 2301 builds on previous legislative efforts to reduce the amount of organic materials that ends up in landfills, including a 2022 law, HB 1799, that also established the Washington Center for Sustainable Food Management in Ecology to support food waste prevention initiatives and programs to achieve state goals for diversion of organic materials from landfills.³

The 2024 state law, HB 2301, requires that local governments that implement solid waste plans provide source-separated organic solid waste collection services to all single-family residents and some nonresidential customers by April 1, 2027.⁴ The law also requires that mandatory source-separated organic solid waste collection services be provided to customers and that customers must use this service to dispose of organic materials.

Ecology’s planned rule will include permitting requirements for facilities managing organic materials to address contamination in the incoming waste, such as plastic film wrappers, cardboard, and plant labels.⁵ Ecology has also indicated that it will add standards for additional organic material management methods, such as worm farming.

Under Ecology’s timeline for the planned rulemaking, Ecology will begin holding stakeholder meetings in the spring of 2025. Ecology anticipates issuing a proposed rule in the spring of 2026, and then receiving public comment and conducting public hearings during the summer of 2026. Ecology expects to adopt the rule in the fall of 2026.

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