Testimony of Eve Hamilton, Co-Chair, Zero Waste Committee
Committee on Public Works and Operations Performance Oversight Hearing
Thursday, February 12, 2026
Introduction
Councilmember Nadeau, thank you for the opportunity to testify at this Committee on Public Works and Operations Performance Oversight Hearing on the Department of Public Works (DPW). Thank you for your leadership in moving the District toward zero waste, and for being the sponsor of the District bottle bill. We will miss you when you leave the Council. My name is Eve Hamilton, and I am the Co-Chair of the Sierra Club District of Columbia Chapter’s Zero Waste Committee. The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters, including 7,000 DC residents. The Sierra Club is also a proud member of the Fair Budget Coalition.
As environmental stakeholders, we view this hearing as an important opportunity to better understand DPW’s recent actions and priorities. The number of outstanding questions in our testimony underscores the value of establishing more consistent, ongoing communication between DPW and environmental stakeholders. We would welcome quarterly stakeholders meetings with the agency going forward.
DC code calls for universal composting
D.C. Code § 8-1031.03. Mandatory Source Separation, enacted through the Sustainable Solid Waste Management Amendment Act of 2014, is structured to phase in mandatory composting for all residences, businesses and government offices. The District currently has a commercial composting program covering some businesses; residential curbside collection, drop off at farmers markets, and smart bins; and limited government composting. While these programs represent an important step forward, much remains to be done to achieve universal composting in the District, as envisioned by DC law.
It is our understanding that DC Code provides for expansion of the composting requirements to all remaining sectors—including multifamily housing, additional businesses, and District government agencies and facilities—once the Mayor implements a compost collection program; government requirements are also subject to funding. According to publicly available information on the DPW and Zero Waste DC websites, that condition was satisfied in 2024, when the Curbside Compost: Food Waste Collection Program was established following a one-year pilot. The expectation is that residences, businesses and the District government should be moving to fund and implement composting programs.
Expanding commercial and residential composting
As mandated by the Zero Waste Omnibus Amendment Act of 2020 (DC code 8-1301.03a), beginning January 1, 2023, retail food stores, and colleges and universities of a given size were required to source-separate all back-of-house commercial food waste. The list of commercial entities required to source separate beginning January 1, 2024, expanded to include a larger number of these businesses, as well as hospitals, nursing homes, all arenas or stadiums with seating capacity ≥ 15,000.
Code § 8–1031.03a authorized DPW to add additional commercial entities to the commercial compost program starting in January 2024. We urge DPW to expand this program, including by adding smaller sports venues and other businesses. Further, we request that DPW provide up to date information on compliance among commercial entities already covered by the program. Considering the generous subsidies the District government has awarded to some District arenas and stadiums, we consider it particularly important that DPW report on their compliance, and engage in enforcement where necessary, to ensure they are meeting their obligations.
We also urge DPW to continue to expand the participants in the curbside collection program, and to deploy additional smart compost bins, ideally doubling both, and placing some smart bins near public schools and public housing as explained below.
Composting requirements for government agencies and facilities
The composting requirements for the District government are spelled out in Section 8-1031.04a of the District Code. They call for all agencies and facilities to compost once DPW establishes a compost collection program and, subject to funding. In addition, DPW is required to collect data from other government entities.
It is our understanding that currently only three government entities have established composting operations: DOEE, which has a contract with a private waste collector, and the Office of Planning and DPW, both of which have volunteer-run in-house composting programs. We appreciate the commitment of all three agencies in establishing composting programs. At the same time, this is a tiny fraction of DC’s government agencies and facilities. When residents and businesses see public institutions composting, it signals leadership and shared responsibility. When participation is limited, it sends the opposite message.
We ask that DPW share any plans it has to promote compliance with the universal composting requirement through education and outreach or other means, and what funding or other assistance the department requires to implement these activities. We also ask that DPW issue a short report on the experiences of these three government agencies describing their program, how much each costs/how much time is required of volunteers, and how much food waste it has diverted. This will help inform decision-making by other agencies, motivate other District agencies to walk the talk on composting, and demonstrate that launching an agency composting program does not have to be onerous.
Composting in public schools is widely considered one of the most effective leverage points for expanding composting beyond the school itself. Prior to the pandemic approximately 61 schools had composting programs supported by DGS. Today, only 5 are operating with DGS support. We understand that Councilmember Janeese Lewis George is working to revive composting in public schools. We are waiting for more details at the DGS budget oversight hearing. We also know that OWD has been working with DCHA to bring recycling to public housing, but still DCHA has issued no contract. In compliance with DC Code, DCHA should also be providing compost collection. In the meantime, we ask DPW to place the additional smart compost bins it is deploying this year near public schools and public housing and begin compost education for public housing residents.
Need for timely reporting on District composting
Section 8-1031.13 requires DPW to collect and report data on composting as part of its annual solid waste diversion report. However, the latest solid waste diversion report covers the period 2019-2022. In the absence of more current, publicly available data, as well as quarterly stakeholder meetings, the Sierra Club respectfully submits the following list of questions on residential, commercial, and District government composting implementation, including:
- When can we expect the next annual solid waste diversion report?
- What is the current level of compliance with the composting code in the residential, commercial, and governmental sectors?
- What issues have been encountered with compliance, and what plans does DPW have to address those issues in order to improve compliance?
- What steps have been taken to date to expand curbside composting from 9,000 to 12,000 households? How many households are currently participating in the program? Is DPW on track to meet this target in FY26?
- How many households can we expect will be added to the current number of participants in FY26 and 27? How much funding is DPW spending in FY26 to implement these steps, and what does it need for FY27?
- Is the plan for DPW eventually to collect from all households with a third bin like Oregon and California do? On what timeline?
- We understand that DPW is taking steps to begin the transition to in-house compost collection. What steps are being taken in FY26, and what steps are planned for FY27?
- How many compost collection trucks has DPW procured and when will we see them on the streets? How many more will DPW procure and when? How much does each truck cost? How many are electric?
- What are DPW’s plans to expand the number of “smart” compost bins? The DPW website currently notes that there are 31 “smart” bins installed across 8 Wards. How many additional “smart” bins will be installed in FY26?
- Has DPW issued any reports on the status of composting by District government agencies? We are eager to know which agencies have a compost collection program, their attributes, how much food waste has been diverted. For agencies without a compost collection program, it would be very helpful for participating agencies to share information on the budget they required to set up their program.
We ask that DPW provide written updates on the waste diversion results of all of its residential and commercial compost programs, as well as on governmental composting, including on its website. Reporting on these results helps build support from residents and elected officials alike. We also ask DPW to develop outreach and education plans and enforcement mechanisms for all three sectors (residential, commercial, and governmental).
Mayor’s Organics Management Plan
Many of the questions we are posing in this testimony would be addressed in an Organics Management Plan. According to D.C. Code § 8–1031.03(c)(2), the mayor was to submit a comprehensive Organics Management Plan by January 1, 2023. Three years later, to the best of our knowledge, the mayor has yet to submit this plan to Council. We respectfully seek Council oversight regarding implementation of D.C. Code § 8–1031.03(c)(2) and would appreciate clarification on how compliance with this requirement is being ensured.
Food rescue and donation
While composting requires a budget, food donation requires little to no funding. Under the law, DPW is required to collect information from agencies on their food donation efforts. It is our understanding that DC Public Schools has a pilot program with the Office of Contracting and Procurement that covers the minimal cost of aluminum pans for donations. We request clarification of whether information on this, and any other donation efforts is being collected. If so, we ask that the information collected be made public to generate support for and replication of similar initiatives. If not, what obstacles does DPW face in collecting this data and how does the department plan to address them?
Other pending ZWOAA initiatives
Looking to the future, we request information on which parts of the Zero Waste DC Plan the Office of Waste Diversion (OWD) will implement in the year ahead, and which actions in the Zero Waste DC Plan OWD is coordinating with other government agencies.
More frequent information sharing is needed to further collaboration
As stated in the introduction to this testimony, while the Sierra Club DC Chapter, like other environmental stakeholders, is motivated to work collaboratively with DPW and its Office of Waste Diversion (OWD), the lack of regular quarterly stakeholders’ meetings and exchange of information impacts our ability to support OWD’s waste diversion efforts.
OWD held only one stakeholders’ meeting last year, in August, and none this year. We’ve had no updates on the plan to renovate the Benning Road Trash Transfer station as a zero waste campus. We’ve been told several times that Benning Road Advisory Team meetings would resume, but we are unaware that they have. When this team was established, only one environmental stakeholder was invited to join. As stated previously, there should be broader participation by a range of environmental and neighborhood stakeholders so that we can provide input on zero waste services the facility should offer, including recommendations in our prior testimony.
And, despite repeated requests, we have never received a full briefing on DPW’s visits to California or Europe to research zero waste campuses and reusable food ware. We call for regular, quarterly stakeholders meetings, and a Benning Road Environmental Advisory Team with larger participation from environmental stakeholders than the current Benning Road Advisory Team which has met only once and has only one environmental representative.
It would also be helpful to understand the status of the award of the District recycling contract. Has it ever been issued? If yes, where do we find a copy of the contract? We trust the new contract will require reports from the selected Material Recovery Facility (MRF) on which materials the MRF sends to be recycled, and which materials on the Mayor’s List of Recyclables (“Mayor’s List”) it charges DC taxpayers to send to a landfill or incinerator. We also welcome learning the timeline to update the Mayor’s List. As noted in several previous testimonies, the Mayor’s List should make clear that black plastic is not recyclable.
DPW should show its progress toward electrifying the District’s fleet
We would like to know what DPW’s progress is on ensuring that all vehicle purchases or leases by the District government are zero-emission vehicles. We also urge DPW to release a comprehensive plan outlining annual benchmarks for transitioning its fleet of over 3,000 vehicles to zero-emission models by 2045.
DPW should prioritize removing dangerous cars from our street
Last year there were 25 traffic fatalities, a significant decrease, compared to 52 in 2024. However, deaths are as high as they were a decade ago when the District committed to Vision Zero, and pedestrians remain particularly at risk. Traffic victims included 14 pedestrians, 8 people in cars, 2 motorcyclists, and 1 bicyclist.
The DC Council has a critical opportunity to help continue this downward trend in fatalities by investing in further progress. We, therefore, urge the DC Council and Mayor Bowser to ensure full funding for Councilmember Nadeau’s Fraudulent Vehicle Tag and Parking Enforcement Modernization Amendment Act and Councilmember Allen’s Strengthening Traffic Enforcement, Education, and Responsibility Amendment Act (STEER Act). The Parking Enforcement Act builds on the STEER Act and enhances DPW's ability to identify and remove unsafe vehicles from the road by prioritizing the booting and towing of abandoned, unidentifiable, or dangerous vehicles with traffic safety infractions.
Both laws involve the authorities of DPW, District Department of Transportation (DDOT), Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and Office of Attorney General (OAG), demonstrating the multi-agency approach and departmental coordination that is required to enforce our laws and help restore the social contract when it comes to making our streets safer for all.
Councilmember Nadeau, thank you for this opportunity to testify.