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Boulder residents are one step closer to being able to leave kitchen scraps, grass clippings and yard waste in a sealed curbside container to be picked up and made into compost rather than going to the landfill.
The Boulder City Council late Tuesday voted to approve the first reading of an ordinance that would require trash collectors operating within the city to include up to 32 gallons of bi-weekly compost material pickup.
Under the proposed ordinance, customers would be able to pay for hauling away larger amounts of organic waste. Residents who attract wildlife by not sealing their garbage would face fines up to $1,000.
The City Council will hear a second reading of the ordinance at its May 6 meeting. If approved, the program could roll out in the fall.
The changes would follow streamlining that begins this summer at the county’s recycling plants, which no longer will require residents to sort containers and paper before they’re turned over.
Boulder County officials have already mandated curbside organics for residents who live in unincorporated portions of the county south of Nelson Road and east of Colo. 93.
With the new city ordinance in effect, officials estimate the diversion rate in Boulder — or the percentage of waste that doesn‘t end up in the landfill — could hit 65 percent.
The plan also means the city would put an end to the annual Spring Clean-Up and Fall Leaf Drop-Off programs beginning next year.
The city would continue to fund the yard-waste dropoff sites for residents who want to haul their yard waste for composting.
Posted by chloroptera on April 16, 2008 at 9:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This type of story makes me feel like Boulder can once again be a leading progressive community. Go Boulder! Now let's get free public transportation for everybody in town.
Posted by Flang on April 16, 2008 at 9:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Progressive? Lazy is more like it: pay the trash collectors to pick up the organic scraps and then pay again to buy the finished compost.
Free composting units to residents would be progressive. Free pickup of material from the broken-down leaf piles would be progressive.
Posted by akikodancer on April 16, 2008 at 9:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Yes please!!! It is such a pain to haul compost away when you live in a condo - hopefully this would encourage others without backyards to compost as well.
Posted by pygmy_owl on April 16, 2008 at 10:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Flang, get real. This is pretty progressive. I've composted on and off throughout my adult life. I don't do it now because, frankly, it is exceptionally stinky and messy. In some places I've lived (like Germany) composting is an integrated part of the waste stream. Everyone has a general recycling, a glass recycling, a biorecycling, and a trash canister. This will be a huge step forward by making composting easier for many people who can't be bothered to compost.
Posted by daeira on April 17, 2008 at 7:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I think this is a great proposal. I currently live in a major metropolis that has organics curbside recycling in addition to yard waste recycling, paper/plastics/metals recycling and the regular pick-up of dry garbage (each housed in its own self-contained and secure container). Before the city introduced the curbside organics recycling, very few families would, of their own accord, drive 20 minutes to a compost facility to drop off their waste. Compliance is high for the recycling programs and it certainly helps that it's done through curbside pick-up. Most of my garbage prior to implementation of the program was organics waste and I've seen a definite reduction in my dry garbage.
I'm curious how this proposal will be implemented for condo and apartment dwellers.
Posted by Flang on April 17, 2008 at 8:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
All right, I misspoke. Your points are well made.
As a community, this will be a step forward. I suppose my irritation is that I expect -- as with the leaf dropoff program -- that the resulting compost will not be freely available in reasonable quantities but rather only at a price. That little detail really bugs me.
Posted by Diff on April 17, 2008 at 8:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Seems to me the people in Boulder are more concerned about composting than there government, judges, and law enforcement actually doing the right thing ...
Read my comment on the Midyette Case and
again;
Shame on you- the people of Boulder County.
Wake up!
Posted by nordberg on April 17, 2008 at 9:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm so looking forward to this. I live in a condo, and it is a pain to deliver our old banana peels to someone else's compost bin.
And you know it's a good idea when (for the first time I've ever seen) most of the comments on this board are actually positive.
Posted by jnboxrud on April 17, 2008 at 10:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
So won't this attract bears and other forms of wildlife such as RATS? And what kind of odors are going to be wafting down the streets on pickup day?
Jim Boxrud
Posted by johnbarleycorn on April 17, 2008 at 11:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I was in the pilot program for this and there were some things that didn't work (ie in-house container created a bug problem) but all in all it was a good service and I generated a lot less actual trash.
Posted by armorsteelco on April 18, 2008 at 2:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Would you have to be a disposal-company customer for this service? I generate so little recycleable (or other) materials that I take it to the recycle center myself only every 2 months or so... this saves me a few bucks... I rely on the city clean-up for larger branches & such that is generated every spring, dealing with the inevitable wind & winter-damaged trees & shrubs. I think many people faced with lots of seasonal yard waste might not bother doing a thorough yard cleanup if they have to pay extra for it.
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