Denver residents can now send less waste to the landfill, as the city expands the materials its curbside compost program will accept.
That greasy pizza box? Yep. Paper egg cartons? Check. Used coffee filters, paper tea bags, napkins and popsicle sticks? Chuck ‘em all in that green bin.
The city decided to allow food-soiled materials in compost bins, along with the already accepted food scraps and yard debris, to keep as many organic materials out of the landfill as possible, the city announced this week. The expansion was possible in part because Denver composters seem to have grasped what can and cannot be composted.
Denver, along with other communities in the Front Range, limited composting to just food scraps and yard debris in 2023 to reduce confusion about what was compostable after “higher than desired” levels of contamination were ending up in the compost stream, Nancy Kuhn, a Department of Transportation and Infrastructure spokesperson, said.
“Because Denver has been able to maintain low contamination rates with its current processor, Waste Management, we’re feeling comfortable about introducing some select items back into the compost stream and encouraging residents to keep reducing the amount of waste sent to the landfill,” Kuhn said in an email.
Some paper products are still forbidden. Takeout containers, tissues, cupcake wrappers and parchment paper, to name a few, should stay in the trash.
A can be found on the city’s website.
Kuhn didn’t say how much waste the city expects to divert from landfills under the new guidelines. Diversion numbers are based on weight, and food-soiled paper products tend to be lightweight, she said. The hope is that the change will make it easier for Denverites to divert kitchen waste.
“Our hope is that these changes continue to raise awareness of the compost program and more people sign up and begin composting,” Kuhn said.
Of about 180,000 Denver customers, about 45%, or nearly 80,500, have compost carts, Kuhn said.
Waste Management turns the compost collected from those curbside carts into a nutrient-rich soil amendment that can be used on lawns, gardens and fields. Thatap a better fate, the city says, than ending up in a landfill where organic materials release methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change.
City officials recommended Denver divert 70% of its solid waste by 2032, in a . Last year, the city diverted nearly 60,000 tons, or 28%, of its solid waste from landfills, Kuhn said. Nearly 24,000 of those tons were composted, and the rest was recycled.
Denver residents can request a free compost cart online through their utilities online account or by calling 311. Customers aren’t charged extra for compost or recycling services, since rates are based on the size of their trash cart.
