Recycling at Vashon’s transfer station is up 20 percent since June, and Zero Waste Vashon’s (ZWV) Jim McRae says the uptick is because of the compactors that were installed over the summer.

“This was the goal of the compactors, increasing recycling,” McRae said last week. “The compactors noticeably changed the amount of recycling being transported.”

With recycling numbers climbing, ZWV began a year-long green waste and food scraps collection pilot program last month. The numbers from the first month of that program are in and show that islanders are bringing green waste to be disposed of, but not food scraps.

In October, the transfer station collected 32.5 tons of green waste, but no food waste, McRae said. However, he said he was pleased because the green waste number is double what King County was expecting.

“This number has far exceeded the county’s estimates of how much material would be received,” McRae said.

He believes no food waste has been brought in either because islanders have not been educated on the fact that there is a food waste program, or because there is no viable means to collect it.

“Lots of people do their own thing (composting), which is a good thing,” McRae said. “The transfer station composting and collection will have to be something for the community to work out.”

While he is pleased, he said the true measure of success will be finding out if the numbers are consistent.

“One month’s numbers are not enough to build an empire on,” McRae said. “We want to see if these numbers can be repeated.”

— Anneli Fogt