On a Seattle kitchen cleaning day, a paper towel that wiped up food goes in the compost cart, and dryer lint, kitchen grease, broken dishes and wipes go in the garbage. That is what Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) says on its web pages and in a 2021 newsletter. For a towel you used with a cleaning spray, SPU’s lists do not say. Its own rule when you are unsure whether something goes in the compost is the garbage: “If you are still unsure if it goes in the compost, put it in the garbage to avoid contamination.”
One thing up front: Hometress does not take online bookings in Seattle yet. Seattle has a Seattle waitlist, so nothing here is a Hometress Seattle price or a promise of service. We are a cleaning company, not a waste agency. We read five SPU web pages and one SPU newsletter on November 1, 2026 and repeat what they say, with the page named beside each line. The weekly routine and the reset checklist further down are ours, labelled as ours.
Why a Seattle kitchen has three bins
SPU’s Food Waste Requirements page says: “Compostable and recyclable materials are not allowed in the garbage.” It cites Seattle Municipal Code sections 21.36.082 and 21.36.083, and we say nothing more about the code. So the kitchen has three destinations: the food and yard waste cart, the recycling cart and the garbage. For the first, SPU’s How to Sort at Home page gives a rule of thumb: “if at one point you could have eaten it, it’s compostable”.
The cleaning-day sort table
Every row is tied to one SPU line. The last column is what that line adds or leaves unsaid, which is where a kitchen reset tends to get stuck. Where SPU is silent we say so instead of guessing.
| Item | Bin | Seattle Public Utilities says | What it adds or leaves open |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper towel that wiped up food | Compost | Sort page, compost list, food soiled and shredded paper: “pizza boxes, napkins, paper towels, greasy food wrappers, and dirty plain paper plates”. | A towel that also touched a cleaning product is the next row. |
| Paper towel used with a cleaning spray | Not listed. SPU’s unsure rule says garbage | Compost page: “If you are still unsure if it goes in the compost, put it in the garbage to avoid contamination.” | The lists we read name food-soiled paper and none names a towel used with a cleaning product. We take no side beyond SPU’s own unsure rule. |
| Dryer lint | Garbage | Sort page, garbage list: “Other garbage: broken dishes, hoses, dryer lint, loose bottle caps, kitchen grease”. | The page says nothing more about lint. |
| Cooking grease from a pan | Garbage | The same garbage line names “kitchen grease”. | The sort page gives no steps for holding it before it goes in. |
| Broken plate or bowl | Garbage | The same line names “broken dishes”. | The sort page gives no wrapping or handling advice for sharp pieces. |
| Wipes, even ones labelled flushable | Garbage | SPU’s At Your Service newsletter, September/October 2021: “All wipes should go in the garbage.” | The newsletter says a wipe can clog pipes even when its package says flushable. The sort page we read lists no wipes by name. |
| Greasy pizza box | Compost | Compost page: “Food-soiled paper like greasy pizza boxes can be composted, but clean cardboard boxes should be recycled.” | The sort page also says “No plastic or shiny coating on paper plates and food packaging.” |
| Empty glass jar | Recycling | Sort page: “All recycling must be empty, clean, and dry to be ready for recycling.” and “For food containers, empty all food out, rinse and let dry.” | Its glass line reads “Glass bottles and jars: no drink glasses or window glass”. Loose bottle caps are on the garbage line. |
| Plastic food container with food still on it | Garbage | The garbage line names “dirty food containers and plastic bags”. | If the container is otherwise recyclable, the same page says “Give your items a quick rinse to get food residue out.” |
| Loose bottle cap or recyclable piece under 3 inches | Garbage | Sort page, recycling section: “Small stuff goes in the garbage.” | Its reason: smaller things “can fall through the sorting equipment at the recycling sorting facility”. The line is about recycling, not food scraps. |
| Melon rind | Compost, straight to the cart | Kitchen scrap tips: “Put melon scraps immediately into your food and yard waste cart and cover.” | SPU gives this as a fruit fly tip. For other scraps it says “every few days”, or the refrigerator or freezer until collection day (step 6 below). |
| Milk carton | Not the cart. Rinse it, reuse or recycle | Kitchen scrap tips: “No milk cartons allowed.” and “Rinse it out and reuse or recycle it.” | Its reason: “The thin plastic lining of the carton ruins the compost.” |
A week with the kitchen scrap container
This list is built from SPU’s Kitchen Scrap Storage Tips page. The order is ours, labelled as ours: a weekly rhythm we assembled from SPU’s tips, not an SPU schedule.
- Pick the container. SPU says: “Use a reusable container with a tight fitting lid for your food scraps.” and “It can be plastic, metal or ceramic.”
- Skip the plastic bag. SPU says: “Plastic bags ruin the compost!” It names an uncoated paper bag or an approved compostable bag instead, and says wrapping scraps in newspaper or paper towels “helps keep your containers clean”.
- Empty it often. SPU says: “To avoid smells, take your food scraps out to your curbside cart every few days.”
- Wash it each time. SPU says: “Wash your kitchen container thoroughly with detergent and water after every use.”
- For odor and fruit flies, SPU lists three things: “To reduce odors, sprinkle baking soda in the kitchen container and food and yard waste cart.”, “Rub vinegar around the rim of your kitchen container.” and “Use a vacuum cleaner to remove fruit flies.” We have no tip of our own.
- If a scrap cannot go out yet, SPU says: “Put leftovers in a container or wrap them in paper, then put them in your refrigerator or freezer until collection day.”
- Roll the cart out. SPU says: “Food and yard waste is collected weekly.” and “Take your food and yard waste cart out to the curb each week, even if it is not full.”
If you plan a reset around collection day, our Seattle scheduling guide mentions homeowners who pick the day after garbage pickup for a cleaning.
What a kitchen reset leaves for the cart
Our checklist, labelled as ours. It reorders the table above into the order a counter wipe-down runs in:
- Take the scrap container out to the cart and wash it before anything else, as in steps 3 and 4 above.
- Set two piles on the counter before you wipe: food-soiled paper for the compost, and a garbage pile.
- A towel that wiped up food goes in the first pile. A towel you used with a spray goes in the second, because SPU’s unsure rule is the garbage.
- Rinse and dry jars and food containers before they go to recycling. Lint, grease, wipes and broken dishes go straight to the garbage.
- Check anything not in the table with SPU’s tool, below, before it goes in a cart.
What SPU’s pages leave open
The towel used with a spray is the main gap, and we cannot close it for you. SPU’s Where Does It Go? tool says: “Type the item in the search bar or scroll through the A to Z list below for all disposal options.” We have not run our examples through it, so check an unusual item there. A bottle of cleaner you cannot use up is a different question, and our Seattle leftover cleaning products guide covers it. For how the damp months change a kitchen, see the Seattle rainy-season routine.
Where Hometress fits
Hometress takes online bookings only in Philadelphia today. Nothing here promises a visit at a Seattle address. The published cleaning checklists include a line, “Clean and Empty Trash Cans”, which names trash cans, not a kitchen scrap container or a cart, so we do not say a visit empties, washes or sorts one. If you live in Seattle, you can join the Seattle waitlist. The Seattle page also says: “Call or message us now. We’ll tell you what we can do for your address in Seattle.”
Common questions
Do paper towels go in Seattle compost?
SPU’s sort page lists paper towels with the food-soiled paper that goes in the compost. It does not list a towel used with a cleaning product, and when you are unsure whether it goes in the compost, SPU says garbage.
Where does dryer lint go in Seattle?
SPU’s sort page puts dryer lint on its garbage line, beside broken dishes, hoses, loose bottle caps and kitchen grease.
How do I keep fruit flies away from the kitchen scrap container?
SPU’s tips are to wash the container after every use, take scraps to the cart every few days, put melon scraps in the cart at once and cover them, and vacuum up the flies. SPU also lists baking soda for odor and vinegar around the rim.