Bothell, WA Trash & Recycling: Mandatory Organics Recycling (2026)

Bothell Municipal Code § 8.20.020 makes the city-contracted collector the only business allowed to collect solid waste in the City of Bothell, and subsection B sets the baseline service: three carts for every customer. One cart is for solid waste (garbage), one is for recycling, and one is for organics, which the code describes as yard debris or food scraps. The organics cart is part of the standard service package, not an add-on a household has to request.

Section 8.20.010 defines organics as separately or combined yard debris and food waste/scraps. Food waste covers compostable pre- and post-consumer scraps such as whole or partial pieces of produce, meats, bones, cheese, bread, cereals, coffee grounds and egg shells, plus food-soiled paper such as paper napkins, paper towels, paper plates, coffee filters, paper take-out boxes, pizza boxes and paper milk cartons, as long as the contractor's selected composting site accepts them. Large dead animals, plastics, diapers, cat litter, liquid wastes and pet wastes are excluded.

Two other sections back up the separation requirement. Section 8.20.190 reserves to the City of Bothell the option to require separation of paper or organics from other component parts of refuse, to require deposit in separate cans or receptacles, and to prescribe the method of disposal. Section 8.20.280 entitles and requires all persons to use a solid waste hauler licensed by the city, or the city's own service if it elects to be the collector.

The only carve-out in § 8.20.020(B) belongs to the public works director or designee, who can exempt particular customers from recycling or organics service. The listed grounds are space limitations, persistent contamination, or similar unusual circumstances.

Contamination is the enforcement lever for organics. Under § 8.20.191, a cart with visible contamination receives a notification tag naming the specific problem, and the collector can reject the materials or have them dumped as garbage. The customer then owes the collector the cost of dumping the materials as garbage.