The city of Renton is working on its first Zero Waste Plan and is looking for resident feedback.

The plan is a ten-year roadmap on how to reduce waste and the environmental impact of waste collection. The plan focuses on increasing waste prevention and reuse and on improving recycling and composting.

Renton Solid Waste Program Manager Meara Heubach said one of the reasons they are creating this plan is because Cedar Hills Regional Landfill, where all of King County’s and Renton’s garbage is going, is set to fill and close around 2040.

“Once that happens, it will become a lot more expensive to manage our garbage,” Heubach said.

The plan consists of 40 different strategies across eight goals to work toward being “zero waste.”

One strategy would be to have a policy that requires “some level of recycling.” Heubach said currently having garbage collection is required, but having containers for recycling or food and yard waste disposal is not required. She said she wants to make sure all residents can access those services.

“We have apartments and condos in the city that don’t have any recycling available to them and many more that don’t have any food and yard waste available to residents,” Heubach said. “I hear from customers who say, ‘I really want to recycle’ or ‘I really want to separate my food waste but there’s no space in the waste enclosures at my property.’”

Larger space requirements at new developments for recycling, setting up recycling and food waste separation systems in schools, expanding the collection of non-standard recyclables such as motor oil or batteries, having recycling at parks and encouraging reusable plates and cups at large public events are some of the other strategies to reduce waste, according to the city’s plan.

Heubach said reducing vehicle emissions from waste emission by reducing the number of garbage trucks on the road with biweekly collection or by switching to electric vehicles in the next collection contract is also in the plan.

“It wouldn’t reduce the amount of waste, but it would reduce the environmental impact of our waste operation system,” Heubach said.

The draft is available online for people to review and provide feedback on anything that is unclear, missed or not prioritized properly through July 31. Heubach encourages people to read the summary and the goals and strategies of the 110-page document.

The goal is to bring the revised plan to the Renton City Council to be adopted this year. Heubach said many of the strategies are tied to getting a new waste collection contract, and the current contract ends in 2027. She said they are working on a new service agreement to help them implement the plan.