Compost Bin Woes Spark Community Education

Denver first rolled out its pilot municipal composting program in 2008 in a city-wide effort to become more sustainable. For years, however, it’s struggled to keep the estimated 50% of compostable waste residents produce from going to landfills. The Mile High City lagged far behind the national rate—which has hovered around 34% over the last decade—diverting only 13% of its waste from landfills two years after the program was initiated. 

Now, after Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure took over and scaled the program, the city has been able to divert 26% of its food scraps, yard trimmings and non-recyclable paper from the trash. As of 2017, composting has been available to all single-family homes within city limits and in 2022, residents approved Initiated Ordinance 306, requiring all apartment complexes, restaurants and office buildings to provide recycling and composting services. 

But despite successes, there have been challenges. Recently, the city has faced backlash over the slow rollout of its green bins used for compost collection. The distribution of these bins became free to residents in 2023 through its “pay as you throw” program, but few have been able to reap the benefits, as only three of the 11 districts in the city have received them. Roughly 300,000 residents who paid for composting before the new program rollout already have bins to use, leaving 135,000 Denver residents still waiting.

The City of Denver has stated that contaminants and non-compostables in green bins are creating more trips for trucks around town. With only 85% of the solid waste department staffed, these extra trips are slowing down the pace at which green bins are being delivered to residents. 

Due to the lack of resources and public knowledge, Denverites have taken it into their own hands to educate their neighbors on the importance of composting and recycling. Tom Strobel, a member of Highland United Neighbors Inc., also known as HUNI, has taken charge, informing members of his community in the form of “Trash Talks.” 

“I saw the need. I think people would like to do more of this, but they really don’t know how, because the city has not filled in the blanks because their priority is elsewhere,” Strobel said. 

In these talks, Strobel answers questions and teaches composting and recycling tips at the Woodbury Library. He is planning to host meetings weekly every Tuesday at 10 a.m.

For visual learners, Strobel brings different disposables and goes through where each item should go and the best practices to do so. He dives into the nuances of beer cans, sushi containers, medicine bottles, and “compostable” dining materials. 

Strobel said he was inspired by someone teaching a similar class in the Lowry neighborhood. 

“I went to one of their classes and realized I kind of know all this stuff, so I won’t have to script it carefully. Why not just start doing them?” Strobel said. 

With the rollout of the green bins taking much longer than initially expected, many have resorted to other methods to dispose of their food waste, such as Compost Colorado, also known as COCO. The service allows commercial businesses and residents to drop off or have their food waste picked up. COCO is fully committed to sustainable living and also offers a refill store where customers can order refillable products in glass containers with no excess packaging. 

“You’re able to utilize the material, and then when you’re done, you can put it next to your bin and the next time we come visit you, we will take that container with us,” said Noah Kapla, executive director of COCO.

Kaplan, a former speech and debate teacher, discussed many social issues with his students, such as climate change. He found that his students were eager to find ways to combat environmental issues and seek ways to help the planet.

“We’d have the chance to get into research, and you learn very quickly how important composting is for the health of the planet and also our kind of human communities,” Kaplan said. 

Kaplan believes sustainability and how we treat our environment reflect how we treat one another as a society. 

“Once [things] are no longer useful to use in that moment, we discard them, and [think] that act doesn’t have implications for other things and other people. How we’ve managed waste and how horrible it’s been for the planet and how it really is symptomatic of our larger issues,” Kaplan said.