The city of Denver is granting ten restaurants up to $3,600 to pay for one year’s worth of compost hauling ahead of a new rule that will require every restaurant in the city to start composting.
This is the first time the city’s office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency has offered assistance for organics recycling, which separates food scraps from other waste for processing into compost, a soil fertilizer. The funding was unveiled earlier this month as part of a started two years ago for restaurant operators to replace their utensils with reusable tableware.
Operators interested in the composting grant must ask for funding to buy reusable wares — drink glasses, utensils, plates — as part of the same application, according to the program qualifications. Fifteen restaurants are expected to receive up to $1,000 for this purpose.
The city selected Colorado-based waste management consulting firm Diversion Designers to act as a liaison for the restaurant owners ultimately approved for grants, said Chelsea Warren, a spokesperson for the climate office.
“They’re going to audit what you currently do, they’re going to order things for you, they’re going to see how you can add composting to your operations,” Warren said. “It is going to have a restaurant advisor to guide you the whole way.”
That includes gathering quotes from licensed haulers of compostable material, she said.
All restaurant operators within city limits will need to contract a hauler to pick up their food waste by Sept. 1, the day a ballot measure approved in 2022 is finally being enacted. (Alternatively, they can also appeal to the city with a planned method of disposal.)
Front Range cities such as Boulder are periodically granting restaurants rebates and subsidies for composting, electrification and other energy and waste reduction measures, said Denise Mickelsen, spokesperson for the Colorado Restaurant Association, the state industry’s trade group.
“I’m not at all surprised that Denver’s trying to help ease that transition,” Mickelsen said.
The city lists a handful of licensed compost haulers on , including Scraps Mile High. The company charges between $200 to $300 a month for its pickup service, according to Scraps clients and its founder, Christi Turner.
Food and drink establishments with dine-in service can apply for the grants. The original grant winners are eligible to apply for the composting funding, as are those who participated in an earlier food waste diversion challenge, Warren said.
“We really want all types of [dine-in] businesses to apply,” Warren said. “Your local coffee shop, taco shop, fine dining. Everybody is eligible for this program.”
The city allocated $51,000 for the program and will keep the open until the money is dispersed.
