Denver is set to finish delivering green compost bins to customers who requested them by the end of next week as part of a rollout that was accelerated by the recent reduction of recycling collection, city officials said.
The city expects the free composting pickup service will have nearly 70,000 customers by the end of the month. That’s about 40,000 more than when the city offered the service for a fee prior to 2023, said Nancy Kuhn, a spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure.
But the new system has come with frustrations, as some residents have complained of long wait times for the carts — some of which are deformed once they are delivered. Denverites have also reported new problems associated with less-frequent pickup of purple recycling bins.
As the composting bins have been delivered, some customers have said they are unable to close the lids. Kuhn said that shouldn’t be a permanent problem, though.
“It’s because we’re getting the carts unstacked and delivered in winter, amid pretty cold temps over the past week, and the cart material may be a little rigid,” Kuhn said. “Once the cart warms up a bit, the lid should realign and close properly.”
Weighing the lid down with something heavy could also address the problem temporarily, she said.
City officials announced in November that they would cut back on recycling pickup from weekly to every other week beginning last month to speed up the expansion of the optional composting service. The composting rollout previously was by geographic zone, and it wasn’t scheduled to be finished until the end of this year.
The city also said it reduced recycling pickup because the bins were underused, meaning the collection trucks were running more than necessary, emitting excessive greenhouse gases.
According to the Denver’s DOTI, the city has enough trucks now, and its route completion rate has improved from about 90% at the end of 2024 to 100% this month. But customer reports suggest those pickups don’t always happen on time.
“We’re picking up carts on time and on the scheduled collection day to a greater extent,” Kuhn said.
In response to Denver Post social media posts, some residents complained that their recycling bins were now overflowing and that pickup still wasn’t consistent. Kuhn said customers with over-filled bins could request a second recycling cart.
The city’s pay-as-you-throw trash collection service, which began in 2023, charges customers only for the black trash bins, ranging from $9 to $21 per month depending on the size used. The city provides waste pickup for all houses and residential buildings up to seven units, with larger apartment buildings responsible for their own waste services.
When the Denver City Council approved the new trash collection program in 2022, one of the selling points was a doubling of recycling collection frequency from every other week to weekly. But the recent change reversed that decision.
Solid waste collection crews are working on more city holidays this year than in the past, including on Cesar Chavez Day on March 31, Juneteenth on June 19 and Veterans Day on Nov. 11, Kuhn said.
Composting allows customers to dispose of organic waste like food scraps and yard debris separately from other trash and recycling items, so that the city’s provider can convert it into nutrient-rich soil. Organic materials collected through the program are sent to a composting facility run by WM, previously known as Waste Management.
Once broken down into soil, it is tested and sold to Denver residents at an annual sale. This year the sale will be on May 3.
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