Residents in Montbello, Green Valley Ranch and Gateway, your chance to start composting is almost here.
The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) announced that residents in the three northeast Denver neighborhoods will get a letter stating that compost collection service will start soon and that asks them to tell DOTI what size composting cart they need.
Last year, Denver started its "pay-as-you-throw" waste program, a climate initiative that charges residents for trash pickup while making recycling and composting free.
But the rollout hasn't been swift. By November, most of Denver's neighborhoods hadn't received their compost bins.
Montbello, Green Valley Ranch and Gateway residents will have until Jan. 26 to tell the city what size cart they want. Those who respond by then will be a part of the initial rollout of carts that will be delivered in February along with composting instructions and a small kitchen pail. Compost collection would start a week after the cart arrives.
DOTI said the three neighborhoods are a part of Denver's Solid Waste Collection (SWC) District 4, which already has about 400 compost customers.
Some folks have already received their bins. About 11,000 households in SWC District 2, which includes City Park, City Park West, Clayton, Cole, Elyria-Swansea, Five Points, North Capitol Hill, Skyland, Whittier, and parts of Globeville, have received their carts.
DOTI said they've also completed audits in the area and compost education, which includes looking for contamination in the carts and informing residents.
"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," DOTI wrote in a press release. "Contaminated loads of compost can be turned away by the city's compost processor."
DOTI said they are continuing to roll out the compost service district by district, prioritizing neighborhoods with lower rates of trash diversion to recycling and compost. Districts 5, 8 and 3 are next and should be receiving communication this year. Districts 5 and 8 encompass West and Southwest Denver. District 3 is north Denver. DOTI said they are developing a rollout schedule for the remaining districts next year.
DOTI said Denver's diversion rate is up 3% from last year with "5,257 more tons of recyclable material diverted from the landfill through November of this year compared to last year."
