Denver begins composting program

DENVER - Denver is beginning a composting pilot program to encourage residents to reduce the amount of trash heading to landfills.

Residents in the La Alma / Lincoln Park neighborhood near central Denver are invited to participate in the program, and are asked to collect their organic trash including food, yard debris and soiled paper.

About 3,300 homes are in the pilot areas, and residents will have to sign up to participate by calling 311 or registering at www.DenverGov.org/DenverRecycles.

Mayor John Hickenlooper said composting “dramatically reduces the waste we send to the landfill, and in so doing, prevents greenhouse gas emissions.”

Residents who sign up with the pilot program will receive a large, green cart similar to the city’s purple recycling carts.

The city will collect the material and deliver it to A1 Organics in Keenesburg, where it will be composted and later sold to farmers and landscapers.

Hickenlooper says the city will use the pilot program to determine how well a city-wide composting program will work.