| Denver Continues its Expansion of Citywide Compost Service
Athmar Park, Auraria, Baker, Barnum, Barnum West, Civic Center, Lincoln Park, Sun Valley, Union Station, Valderde, Villa Park, Westwood, and parts of the CBD and West Colfax neighborhoods are next;
Customers should look for letter in mail |
DENVER – Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) is encouraging approximately 17,000 households in Athmar Park, Auraria, Baker, Barnum, Barnum West, Civic Center, Lincoln Park, Sun Valley, Union Station, Valderde, Villa Park, Westwood, and parts of the Central Business District and West Colfax neighborhoods to look for a letter in the mail, letting them know compost collection service is starting soon in their neighborhoods and requesting they let DOTI know what size compost cart they’d like to receive.
The neighborhoods make up Denver’s Solid Waste Collection (SWC) District 5 – an area with approximately 1,600 compost customers currently. Per instructions they’ll receive in the mail, residents will have until June 14 to choose their cart size to be part of an initial round of cart deliveries. DOTI will deliver carts to these customers starting in June along with a small kitchen pail and compost how-to guide. Collection starts the week after a customer’s cart arrives.
In Q1 of this year, DOTI completed a rollout of compost collection service to residents in SWC District 4, which included Montbello, Gateway and Green Valley Ranch, and DOTI followed up with auditing and educating customers. This process involved checking carts for contamination and tagging those carts to let people know what they put in their carts that shouldn’t be in there. The education piece is critical to the success of the program and the goal is to make sure residents are using the service correctly before moving on to the next area. Contaminated loads of compost can be turned away by the city’s compost processor.
DOTI is rolling out weekly compost service district by district, focusing on helping customers understand what items to place in their newly delivered green carts. The department is prioritizing neighborhoods with lower diversion rates in its rollout, with SWC Districts 8 and 3 next in line in 2024 and is developing a rollout schedule for the remaining districts in 2025. Residents will continue to receive a credit on their invoice until compost service starts in their neighborhood.
In January 2023, Denver moved to a volume-based pricing model for trash collection service to curb the amount of waste the city sends to the landfill. Residents pay for what they throw based on their trash cart size, with weekly recycling and composting included at no additional cost. Denver’s diversion rate is up three percent from last year to 26%. About 43 percent of the city’s customers now have access to compost collection service. |