Aspen’s Organic Waste Ordinance goes into effect for ‘commercial businesses’ this week

Multi-family housing units and commercial businesses without Retail Food Licenses in the city of Aspen will have to begin composting per the second phase of the city’s 2023 Organic Waste Ordinance. 

Businesses with Retail Food Licenses, which includes restaurants and hotels with restaurants, were the first of the businesses in Aspen to be subject to the Organic Waste Ordinance after its adoption in February 2023, according to Aspen’s website. After Thursday, Jan. 15, the selection of commercial businesses in Aspen who need to comply will increase to include all commercial businesses and multi-family buildings like apartment buildings. 

“I think it’s going to take a little bit until everyone gets on board because it always takes a few months for everyone to feel confident,” the city’s Waste Diversion and Recycling Specialist Jimena Baldino said. “I think we’re going to see a big increase in how much food waste is being diverted. People are very excited — most people that we talk to are very into it.”

The city of Aspen has been working with property managers to distribute compost containers depending on the number of units in a building, according to Baldino. Around 600 containers have been distributed to property managers as of Monday, with Baldino expecting another 50 to 100 containers to be distributed before the ordinance is active on Thursday. 

Those containers will be handed to units within a building, whether they be businesses or homes. From there, it is the responsibility of individuals in the unit to make use of the compost bins to separate their general garbage from materials that can be composted, like food scraps, paper products designed to break down in composting environments, and other organic materials. 

Residents will then deliver their compost to collection bins in the same areas where their trash and recycling are collected. 

According to Baldino, the city is not looking to immediately begin punishing non-complying businesses and buildings if they find that the ordinance is not being followed fully. 

“The big thing that we are going to be checking at multi-family buildings is that they have the container on site and that it’s being used,” Baldino said. “That is our main priority. Whenever we go check, we’ll check that they have access to a compost bin and that people are using it.” 

To the extent that they find frequent non-compliance, the city will attempt to educate people with the aim of changing their behavior before citations are issued. 

“We are going to work with either the property manager or the unit owner to try to see where they are coming from, and offer them the resources they need to be successful while composting,” Baldino said. “Giving tickets to a person is not going to change their behavior, and our goal is to change behavior, which is why our approach will be on the nicer side.” 

The first phase of the Organic Waste Ordinance went into effect in October 2023. Baldino said that prior to Phase I going into effect, the city was diverting around 800 tons of food waste from the Pitkin County Solid Waste Center toward the Solid Waste Center’s composting program. 

After the program went into place in 2023, the quantity of food waste diverted increased to 2,800 tons. 

“That doesn’t mean that it is one-to-one,” Baldino said. “It’s not like 2,000 more tons of food waste going to the compost is 2,000 tons less trash to the landfill. We can see a correlation, and we can see the trash reduces and the compost increases. So (Phase I) was super successful.”

The waste is then processed by the Pitkin County Solid Waste Center so that it can be used as a soil additive to assist in plant growth. The city of Aspen uses some of that compost in their landscaping activities every year, Baldino confirmed. 

Baldino does not expect this second phase to increase the food waste diversion as much as the first phase, due largely to the fact that restaurants and food-serving businesses are much larger producers of food waste than businesses who don’t sell food and individuals who make food for themselves. However, the city still expects an increase in organic waste being diverted out of the Pitkin County Solid Waste Center’s landfill and into the composting program. 

Commercial businesses that don’t expect to produce enough compost to justify having their own pickup service will be able to drop their compost at one of several central dropoff locations, according to Baldino. 

Following Phase II’s enactment on Thursday, there will not be a composting change in Aspen for two years. In January 2028, Phase III will go into effect, requiring all remaining homes and buildings to compost their food waste. 

More details on the ordinance can be found on Aspen’s website here, https://www.aspen.gov/359/Organic-Waste-Ordinance.