Aspen City Council has agreed to implement a program that will prohibit food in landfill trash and recycling centers, as well as spending as much as $700,000 to carry out the new law and directing staff to pursue new funding sources to offset the costs. The move, decided in a work session, is part of council’s “Race to Zero” agreement, and includes reducing organic material going to the landfill by 25% by 2025 and 100% by 2050, along with 70% diversion of all waste from the landfill by 2050 in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The new law, which must be approved by ordinance, would not take effect for a year and would affect only the commercial sector at first. “The restaurants produce most of the food waste that we generate here in Aspen,” said Liz Chapman, senior environmental health specialist for the city. The 12-month grace period will allow city staff to train and equip businesses, as well as allow time to receive needed equipment with the current constraints on the global supply chain.
Council members said they’d like to have incremental steps and incentives for restaurants to divert food more quickly than a year’s time. “I’m thinking about intermediate steps, because if somebody tells me to do something like filing my taxes, I might not start until 11 months and two weeks,” said Councilwoman Rachel Richards. “I would be a little nervous about having a lot of things wait until the last minute. …” The prohibition of waste in the landfill will slowly expand over the next 10 years to the entire town, according to Chapman.