SEATTLE – Just four months into a year-long contract, Pike Place Market is going to remove an anaerobic food waste recycler on Pike Street.
It's not that it didn't work, but the smell turned off a lot of people.
Pike Place called the recycler a pilot project, and it succeeded in reducing the amount of food waste that ended up in the trash and in landfills. However, much of the waste was protein, mainly fish, so the digester ended up emitting a strong odor several times a day despite efforts to adjust, said Robin Sweere with WISErg.
The putrid smell wasn’t fish.
"It just smelled...like compost," said Bonnie Conner, who works at one of the market's many restaurants.
The project was done in conjunction with Seattle Public Utilities, and WISErg said the unit will be turned off tonight after the last load is dumped. It will be dismantled and removed over the next month.
The market said it will continue to push for other solutions, maybe even another harvester, just not this close to so many people.
