The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Recycling Resources Economic Opportunity program. has awarded Longmont a $70,022.56 grant the city will use to purchase 1,000 residential curbside compost collection carts. That purchase, and continuing city promotion of its program to have homes opt in to the compost collections service, will help Longmont meet its waste reduction and diversion goals, city staff said in a memo to the City Council.
“The city has established a goal of a 50% waste diversion rate by 2025 for its residential waste stream. To reach that diversion goal, the City aims to increase the current residential composting customer participation rate from 21.8% to 25%. This project will support the City’s efforts to increase resident participation in its voluntary opt-in curbside composting service to help meet Longmont’s waste diversion and related greenhouse gas GHG emission reduction goals,” staff wrote.
City staff said Longmont’s state-funded composting cart expansion program, with the residents’ compost picked up for collection by the city’s renewable natural gas-powered collection fleet, will also contribute toward meeting Boulder County’s and the state’s waste diversion and GHG emission reduction goals.
The providing of the 1,000 compost carts to Longmont households “will be accompanied by promotional and outreach efforts to educate current and new users in composting best practices to optimize the quality of compostable material,” staff wrote, particularly allowing the city to help meet peak spring/summer new customer demand.