SEATTLE - Long before the first pitch is thrown at a Mariners home game, the kitchen staff at Safeco is hard at work.

And while they are busily chopping and slicing and spinning together meals for thousands of hungry fans, they are composting.

That's right, each kitchen prep station has a composting can filling up with what used to go in the trash.

"So much garbage we were producing, and now we can compost all these ingredients," said Executive Chef Tamas Ronyai.

Ronyai instructs his staff to use the compost bins whenever possible, and it's working.

"So far we've composted about 19 percent of our waste this season and that accounts for about 21 tons," he said.

The Mariners have set up their own garbage separation center. Food waste is put in compostable bags and sent to a composting center.

It gets blended with yard debris and processed into good, clean compost.

"It's a very big deal. It's very, very exciting to see the leadership from the Mariners on recycling," said George Sidles, Seattle Public Utilities Waste Manager.

SPU knows the potential of harnessing all of Safeco's waste. It's not just food waste. After fans have purchased and consumed all those game-day goodies, workers go through the seats, separating out recyclable containers.

The Mariners initially used blue bins to recycle, but a problem arose. Sometimes excited fans would toss non-recyclables in and contaminate the container. So the Mariners shifted the recycling burden from the fans to themselves. The M's think that's more efficient, and that means move savings.

SPU says if the Mariners can get better at this they can cut their waste disposal fees in half. That's a pitch the Mariners accountants get behind.

Seattle Public Utilities estimates Safeco will eventually divert 1,000 tons of food waste from the landfill each year.