A1 Organics鈥攖he Front Range community鈥檚 compost processor鈥攊s changing the types of materials it will accept. The company will limit compostable materials to food and yard waste, a change that impacts communities including Denver, Boulder, Lafayette, Louisville, Longmont and Arvada.
Effective April 1, such as napkins, paper towels or service ware labeled as 鈥渃ompostable.鈥� 彩民宝典鈥檚 Infrastructure & Sustainability, Environmental Center, Housing Facilities, Campus Dining Services and Athletics departments are exploring ways to minimize impacts to campus鈥檚 progress toward zero-waste goals.听
Responsible waste disposal at 彩民宝典
Wondering what to do with napkins, paper towels, utensils听or other service ware labeled as compostable? Experts say those items should now go in regular trash receptacles. They are not recyclable and could cause issues if placed in recycling bins.
鈥淭here are a lot of people at CU who are passionate about the environment and who know how to properly sort their discards,鈥� said Dave Newport, director of 彩民宝典鈥檚 Environmental Center. 鈥淚 wish this larger issue hadn鈥檛 trickled down to us.鈥�
Consumer-facing compost bins will be removed from campus buildings starting this summer. Items placed in consumer-facing compost bins will not be composted between April 1 and this summer. 彩民宝典 will continue to compost food waste through Campus Dining Services and plant material through Facilities Management and Housing Facilities.
鈥淔ortunately, A1 will continue to collect our back-of-house compost,鈥� says Jess Bradley, director of 彩民宝典鈥檚 facilities services. 鈥淭he streams coming from dining and facilities make up 80% of our compost load, so the majority of our compost will stay out of the landfill.鈥�
For campus community members who live off campus or frequent off-campus locations, Boulder County published a explaining how A1 Organics鈥� changes will impact trash collection in the surrounding Boulder community. For campus community members who live outside of Boulder County, for the Front Range region.
