Pierce County is now turning your dinner scraps into environmental gold. Following the guidelines of Washington State House Bill 1799, residents are given the green light to mix food waste with yard clippings in their curbside yard waste bins, a move bolstered by the county's sustainability goals aimed at slashing greenhouse emissions by nearly half come 2030, according to Pierce County.

Under this plan, partnering with waste management companies like LRI, Murrey's Disposal, Lemay Pierce County Refuse, and University Place Refuse & Recycling, the county wants to chop down on the amount of waste rotting away in landfills. Rotting food waste, is a major producer of methane, a hefty contributor to global warming. Composting this organic matter is a sustainable substitute, one that's key to reducing soil erosion, and improving both water quality and carbon storage in soil.

Adding scraps of fruits, vegetables, seafood, bones, meat, dairy, bread, rice, and the leftovers of your morning coffee is encouraged. However, pizza boxes, napkins, and so-called compostable items such as plastic plates, will still be trash-talked as they're a no-go for the compost bin.

To accommodate for the scheme's success and the county's growing population, expansions at the Purdy Compost Facility are currently underway. And while trashing food is never the goal, recycling leftovers into compost is a giant leap toward keeping the region green.