To help the City of Seattle reach its new citywide solid waste target of reducing landfill disposal by 50% by 2030—and to support Seattle Public Utilities’ (SPU) application for the Bloomberg Mayor’s Challenge—Cascadia staff worked with SPU to address food waste reduction and identify opportunities for food recovery. While Seattle already diverts more than half of its waste, large public events continue to generate thousands of tons of garbage each year. Cascadia conducted two waste audits at Seattle Center events to evaluate the impact of food rescue and reuse efforts and identify opportunities for further waste reduction.
Because comprehensive data for comparison across events of varying sizes and years was limited, Cascadia made informed assumptions as part of the analysis. To strengthen accuracy, the team focused on large, food-centered events as a baseline for comparison, given the number of available data points. These events also aligned closely with those SPU may prioritize for expanded reuse and food rescue efforts.
Waste audits took place at Bumbershoot, a long-standing music festival, and Festa Italiana, a community-organized cultural celebration. Cascadia’s analysis and site observations helped build the case for deepening food rescue and reuse efforts at Seattle Center. The findings detailed the significant impact these waste reduction methods can have in reducing materials sent to landfill and saving the campus money.
Bumbershoot waste audit findings (where food rescue actions were implemented)
Festa Italiana waste audit findings (where reusable packaging actions were implemented)
These efforts also inspired event attendees, with one Festa Italiana visitor noting, “If you can host a reuse community event of this scale in the City of Seattle, we can do this in my hometown, too.”
Earned press
Seattle Center Launches Zero Waste Pilot Program
