The second phase of Aspen’s Organic Waste Diversion Ordinance goes into effect on Jan. 15 — requiring all businesses and multi-family buildings in the city to start composting.
The city will provide compost bins, signage and educational materials for tenants, but property managers or HOAs will need to pay to have the organic waste hauled away.
Jimena Baldino works with Aspen’s climate team, and is overseeing the program.
She said that added cost can be made up, since residents and businesses could save money when they start producing less trash.
“That is something that I hope multi-family buildings and HOAs are able to control and make that decision, ‘Okay, I'm getting this trash bin emptied twice a week, and it's not getting full, so let's go to once a week,’” Baldino said.
Baldino said one local business was paying $1,500 per month to empty their trash dumpster, and only $200 to empty a compost bin of the same size.
As more trash gets diverted as compost, buildings and businesses should be able to cut back on the frequency of their trash service.
The Aspen City Council passed the organic waste ordinance in 2023 to extend the life of the Pitkin County Landfill.
Phase One began with the city’s food establishments in October 2023, and Baldino said they’ve already seen some dramatic results.
The landfill has an industrial compost facility, and in the past two years, they’ve had to increase those operations 70%.
In 2024, the landfill processed about 2,000 tons more compost than 2023. Over the same time, the amount of trash processed dropped by more than 2,000 tons.
Baldino acknowledges that the drop is likely not entirely from composting — businesses close from year to year. But she thinks it’s definitely a big part of the impact.
She said when the restaurants first started, many of them asked for smaller bins, not thinking they wasted much food.
But as they’ve become more aware of how much food they’re throwing away, Baldino thinks they’ve started buying less.
“And that is, of course, the end goal, right?” Baldino said. “We love composting. We love recycling. But the better we can buy and choose what products we are consuming, that's the best way of reducing our footprint,” Baldino said.
Every Aspen resident will have to divert organic waste by 2028, when the final phase goes into effect.