Organics collection

Learn effective strategies for composting food scraps and reducing contamination.

Food scraps, partially eaten, and unwanted food can be collected for composting. A new law starting on January 1, 2025 requires schools to compost food waste if they create more than 1 cubic yard per week. That's about the size of a refrigerator. The Green Schools Program provides guidance, indoor collection bins, signs, and educational tools. Contact your program representative to learn more about how your school may be impacted by the Organics Management Law.

School criteria for recognition

Fill out the School Organics Collection recognition form when you have completed the following criteria:

Establish and maintain organics collection in the kitchen, cafeteria, or other locations where compostable materials and food waste are collected.
Maintain low or no contamination in the organics bins for at least 3 months, or show improvement in contamination levels.
- Create a system to monitor contamination in organics bins. Collect data over time (at least 2 weeks) to see how effective your system is. Share results with your program representative.
Conduct a Waste Walk Through (WWT) every year. Use the information to set organics collection goals.
Share organics collection goals with the rest of the school. Examples could include assemblies, newsletters, announcements, or social media posts.
Provide labeled organics collection bins paired with a trash can in kitchens, cafeterias, or areas where food is prepared or consumed. See our resources below for examples of bins and labels.

Recognition form

Fill out the Fill out the School Organics Collection recognition form. You may fill out the form to receive your benchmark badge at any time during the school year. Contact your program representative if you need assistance filling out the form.

You can complete the recognition form over multiple sessions using the "Save" button. You will be emailed a link that allows you to continue filling out the form. Once the form is complete, select the "Submit" button.

Check out all the schools that were recognized for Organics Collection in 2025-2026.

District criteria for recognition

Find the district recognition criteria for this benchmark in the District Benchmark Guide.

District staff will be invited to apply for recognition once at least 50% of their school are participating in the Green Schools Program. Fill out the District Organics Collection recognition form.

Organics collection resources and activities

Interested in learning more? Check out our resource list for more detailed information on this benchmark topic.

Success stories

Students at Summit Trail Middle School in Tahoma School District started collecting organic waste this year. After hearing about how much food ended up in the landfill, they were motivated not to send any food waste to the landfill from their school. They offered teachers small or medium compost buckets to collect food waste and paper towels. Eight teachers participated in the initial roll-out. They started weighing the food waste that went into the organics bin every day. As of March 2026, they had collected over 80 pounds of food waste that was diverted from the landfill. They sent out regular surveys to teachers and staff to understand how the collection process was going and what contamination levels were. Because they had so little contamination and their efforts went over so well, the green team is planning to expand compost collection to all classrooms next year!

Auburn School District launched organics collection in the kitchens at every school in their district. The Executive Director and Assistant Director of Maintenance and Operations created a district wide training and support system so all custodial and nutrition services staff could collect food scraps without contamination. School leaders also got involved and created sustainability teams at each school to streamline waste collection operations and make sure as much waste was diverted from the landfill through recycling and composting as possible.

Rock Creek Elementary School in Tahoma School District noticed that contamination was a big issue at their school. They devised a way to keep all the fruit stickers out of the compost. They posted large letters spelling out the school mascot, E, A, G, L, E, S on the wall in the cafeteria. Each grade was challenged to put their fruit stickers in a different letter. Students loved filling up the letter that belonged to their grade! The green team also motivated the student body to be careful about composting contamination by hosting a school-wide assembly complete with skits, songs, and games. They are planning to kick off next schoolyear with another big assembly to remind students how to separate their food waste.

Students at Cascadia Montessori teach classrooms how to properly sort waste to make sure no contamination ends up in the recycling or organics bins.