FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 6, 2022 Contact: Keith Meyer Phone: (303) 305-8093 Email: sustainability@denverinc.org

Denver Residents Strongly Support Proposed Trash Services “Switch” to Free Weekly Pickup of Composting & Recycling  

Denver, CO – The City of Denver is introducing a long-awaited potential change to single-family composting, waste & recycling services later this year. Currently, a great deal of compostable waste ends up in landfills creating methane, a dangerous contributor to climate change. The program would help to ease this by providing residents with free weekly compost and recycling pickup, and charge a small monthly fee for trash collection based on bin size. This model, which has been successfully implemented by municipalities around the country, is used in nearby Colorado towns like Longmont and Loveland.

To gauge community interest in this switch, The Denver Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation (INC) Climate & Sustainability committee conducted a city-wide survey of residents & community members distributed through local registered neighborhood organizations (RNOs), city council district offices, and local media sources. The survey can be found here.

Currently starting its 47th year, Denver INC (Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation) is a coalition of representatives from Denver’s registered neighborhood organizations (RNO’s) and others that gather to promote responsible city change and growth. INC’s mission is to advocate for Denver residents by bringing together, informing and empowering Denver neighborhood organizations to actively engage in addressing city issues.

INC’s expanded waste services survey asked three initial questions, followed up with an additional open text answer. INC received back 336 surveys with the following results:

• Nearly 80% of respondents stated that it was important or “very” important that Denver change our trash diversion rate (currently at only 26%) in order to fight climate change.

• Over 75% of respondents said they would be willing to pay a small monthly fee if diverting more of Denver’s trash to composting and recycling will have a MAJOR impact on meeting Denver’s climate change goals.

• Over 74% of respondents indicated, if they also received free composting and recycling, they would be willing to pay up to $10/month for trash services. Of that number, over 30% indicated they would be willing to pay up to $20/month.

But the survey also provided a cautionary tale for proponents of this measure.

“There is clearly a lack of general knowledge among residents and neighbors about the reasons and specifics behind this proposed change”, said Keith Meyer, Co-Chair of the Climate and Sustainability committee.  He added “the written messages we received from over 200 respondents indicated that there are still a lot of questions out there about this proposal. The city needs to do a much better job at educating residents about the specifics of this program.”

Issues around multi-family buildings, cross-bin contamination, and frequency of recycling pickup were top concerns among respondents. Additionally, there were questions regarding whether this services switch amounts to a “double tax” being placed on residents.

“With regard to the double tax notion in particular, there’s a misconception that property taxes fully pay for trash pickup for Denver’s 180,000 households, which they do not.” commented Tara Tull, member of the INC Climate & Sustainability Committee. “This proposal would not only fund weekly trash pickup, but also cover free weekly recycling and composting pickup as well. By basing the fee on bin size, also known as volume-based pricing, the proposal is encouraging all of us to make smarter choices about the waste we produce”

Yet, there is still strong support with residents on moving forward with this change, especially if it helps Denver meet its obligations to fight climate change.

Residents like Pamela Quigley said: “This change is needed and overdue. We need to shift our mindsets to do everything we can to reduce, reuse, recycle…. starting with limiting consumption.”

Denver City Council will begin hearings on this proposal in April, with an expected vote later this spring. More information and answers about the Expanded Waste Services proposal can be found here.  INC is not endorsing the expanded waste services proposal at this time, but wanted to share these findings with city leaders and the Denver community at large. 

Keith Meyer,
Phone: (303) 305-8093
sustainability@denverinc.org