Fast-food restaurant chain shares impressive effects of switching to compostable disposables: 'Everyone really cares about this issue'

Sometimes, it takes creativity to make mass composting a practice that actually works. 

According to Restaurant Hospitality, Taco Time Northwest has it figured out. In 2010, the city of Seattle passed a law requiring restaurants to make disposables either recyclable or compostable. 

Taco Time Northwest embraced this wholeheartedly. Wes Benson, its franchise affairs and sustainability manager, said, "We're run by a local family; our customers are our neighbors. We felt like the Seattle ordinance was a reason to really dial in the packaging and make it as environmentally friendly as possible."

It used a three-bin system but found that it wasn't working. Customers in a hurry could mix up the bins, which ruined entire batches of compost. That's when it decided to make all of its disposables compostable. 

Taco Time Northwest and the people who support it believe in the benefits of compost, which can, according to CalRecycle, include everything from reducing erosion to lowering the amount of methane that escapes landfills. It can also save money and help seeds germinate better. 

It's not just potential good for the air and the pocketbook, though. The U.S. Composting Council explains that compost produces richer soil for plants. This, in turn, can produce plants with more nutrients. When people eat those plants, they get the benefits of those nutrients for their own body, too,

At Taco Time Northwest, its investment in compostables has paid off. It has kept 1,900 tons of material out of landfills and filled 37,000 bags of compost. The company has even figured out how to get most of its franchises to make the switch, except for the ones that are not serviced by a local compost hauler. 

It all comes down to making composting so easy that even people in a hurry can do it. As Benson said, "It has to be simple. If you make people sort, it's not going to work. But we found …that everyone really cares about this issue."

If you are one of the many who also care about this issue, you can start composting your food scraps. Even if you don't have much space, it's possible to begin today. You can also compost right in your garden. Before long, your home-grown vegetables will be thriving and you'll be eating even more nutrients than before.   

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