Denver Accelerates Compost Bin Rollout, Revises Waste Collection ServicesDenver Accelerates Compost Bin Rollout, Revises Waste Collection Services

Denver’s City Council is changing its waste collection plans and prioritizing the delivery of composting bins to residents.

Previously, Denver charged for extra trash pickup and provided weekly recycling and compost free of charge. Now, recycling will be collected every other week and composting will be collected every week. The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) is speeding up the process of delivering composting bins to the remaining four solid waste districts without them.

“What we found in two years of doing weekly recycling is that we really didn't see a significant increase in the amount of recyclables that we were collecting,” said Nina Waysdorf, Denver DOTI Solid Waste Diversion and Outreach Manager. “We're hovering right at about the same amount, but we've been circling the city twice as often.”

“It’s clear that the cost of what was committed is much higher than what was projected when they decided to do weekly compost, weekly recycling, weekly trash pickup,” said Mike Johnston, Denver Mayor.

“In an attempt to reduce the impact on climate, we were running more very low fuel efficiency vehicles on the streets every day to only pick up half-full recycling bins.”

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