Federal Way, WA Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)

150(h), within the city's outdoors, yards and landscaping chapter governing solid waste receptacles, imposes a mandatory recycling participation rule that goes beyond the single-family curbside program. Multifamily, nonresidential and mixed-use development occupants must participate in separating recyclables for collection, and the ordinance sets a floor on what must be captured at minimum: newspapers, mixed papers, recyclable bottles, cans and plastic containers, and compostable materials where a collection service for them is available. All of that separated material has to go into properly labeled containers or carts supplied by the city's solid waste collection contractor, and any separated compostables likewise need their own properly labeled container.

The rule then adds a capacity mandate specific to multifamily properties: owners must provide residents with total weekly recycling container capacity that is at least equal to the total weekly garbage capacity provided, so a complex cannot starve recycling relative to trash space. Where feasible, the code directs that garbage, recycling and compostable receptacles be co-located in one storage space so residents have one stop to sort waste correctly. 150 also sets the physical rules that make this workable: enclosures need signs at least four square feet identifying which receptacle is for what per subsection (c), and the public works director can modify these requirements in writing under subsection (h)(i) if an exception is necessary, revocable on no less than three business days' notice.