Communities looking to create less trash often turn to the three Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle.
One local company is trying to get a C for compost in there, too, and it’s getting some help from the state of Colorado.
Nearly 40 percent of the trash that ends up buried in the Pitkin County Landfill could have been composted.
Local compost company EverGreen ZeroWaste won a grant for $120,000 in October; much of that will go toward commercial, bear-proof dumpsters, to keep area wildlife out of the compost bins.
Alyssa Reindel is a co-founder of EverGreen ZeroWaste. She says composting hasn’t taken off in the valley, so the company is aiming to reach big producers of food waste.
“We can collect more from a grocery store in one stop than we can an entire neighborhood of single family homes,” Reindel said.
The grant money will target expanding service and providing safe containers at restaurants, grocery stores and schools across the Roaring Fork Valley.