The city of Seattle has approved an ordinance under the Seattle Public utilities (SPU) rules that states residents caught wasting food could be fined.

The SPU currently encourages residents in single-family homes to place food and compostable paper in compost bins – not the general garbage.

Apartment complexes are admonished to provide compost bins to residents, but there are no requirements.

This new ordinance is expected to assist Seattle reach its goal of having 60% all of its garbage recycled by 2015.

However, new rules allow garbage collectors to “take a cursory look” into the waste of residents and “if they see compostable items that make up an estimated 10% or more of the trash, they’ll enter the violation into a computer system their trucks already carry, and will leave a ticket on the garbage bin that says to expect a $1 fine on the next garbage bill.”

Dumpsters will…