Seattle Residents Invited to Vote for 'Most Compostable' Thanksgiving Dish

Aspic? Turducken? Fruitcake? Jello salad? All are possibilities in the Seattle Public Utilities contest to pick the "worst Thanksgiving dish in Seattle."

Seattle Public Utilities is running a contest with the perfect tagline ("Compost Food. It's not garbage anymore!"), inviting its 1.3 million customers to vote for their "most compostable" holiday dish by Nov. 21 and be entered to win a kitchen compost collector. Results will be announced Nov. 25.

The page where residents can vote lists 13 candidate dishes and an "other, please specify" choice. The dishes range from ambrosia salad and turducken to oysters, giblets, stuffing, mincemeat pie, aspic, fruitcake, and jello salad.

The city agency says Americans throw out 25 percent more trash between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day than at any other time of the year, with much of the waste being leftover food, and that last year, Seattle sent more than 100,000 tons of food waste to the landfill.

"Curb your wasteline this holiday season and put your unwanted leftovers in your food and yard waste cart, where instead of going to the landfill, they'll be made into compost for local parks and gardens," its contest page says. Beginning Jan. 1, food and compostable paper, such as cardboard boxes, napkins, and paper towels, will not be allowed in Seattle's garbage.

To learn more about Seattle Public Utilities, visit www.seattle.gov/util or follow it on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SeattleSPU.