Seattle residents are preparing to pay a $1 fine if they are caught wasting too much food.
Officials in the Washington state city voted Monday to enforce a $1 fine for residents and $50 for businesses if more than 10 percent of their trash is wasted food, the BBC reported. Apartment buildings are also subject to the $50 fine.
The Seattle City Council passed the bill to encourage residents to put food scraps into compost bins and reduce greenhouse gasses, the BBC reported. The law, which takes effect in 2015, makes Seattle the second U.S. city to make composting mandatory.
"The point isn't to raise revenue," Tim Croll, solid waste director of Seattle Public Utilities, told the Seattle Times. "We care more about reminding people to separate their materials."
When city trash collectors empty the garbage, they will inspect it to make sure the amount of food waste is less than 10 percent. Violations are entered into a computerized system, a ticket is left on the trash bin and the fine is added to the person's trash bill, Reuters reported.
Warning tickets will be issued starting Jan. 1 before the law goes into full effect July 1.
Composting is the process of decomposing organic matter like food and manure to be used as soil, thus reducing the need for chemical fertilizers, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
According to the National Resource Defense Council, Americans throw out up to 40 percent of the food they buy. Only 5 percent of food waste is composted, according to the EPA.
Seattle has long been considered one of the leading cities in environmental cleanliness. Its recycling rate in 56 percent, compared to a national rate of 34.5 percent, according to the EPA.
City officials want to raise the recycling rate to 60 percent by 2015.
