Composting with Zero Waste Initiative
What is Zero Waste?
The Zero Waste Initiative is the Yampa Valley Sustainability Council’s largest
program, started in 2009 at the Steamboat Ski Area.
Zero Waste means to use all possible resources to ensure that as little or no
waste is produced by buying the greenest supplies and recycling and composting as
much of the waste as possible.
What is compost?
Compost is a nutrient rich soil that is created from food and plant products over
time with the perfect equation of heat and air. Compost can be made from food scraps,
yard clippings, and other organic matter that shouldn’t go into the garbage stream
because they need air, sun, and microorganisms to recycle naturally into compost.
Who makes compost in Steamboat?
Most landfills are not designed to braek down organic waste, although many
people believe them to be one giant composting system. But without the natural
condiditons that turn food matter into compost, landfills create methane, a hazardous
greenhouse gas 72 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
Steamboat is home to one of Colorado’s few Industrial Compost Facilities,
located just a few miles west of Steamboat in Milner at the Routt County Landfill,
operated by Twin Enviro Services. Twin Enviro has gone to great lengths to establish
this facility, which is monitored by the county’sEnvironmental Health Department.
Twice yearly, the compost at this facilty is tested for nutrient and health standards by
the Colorado State University labs, and the dirt produced at this facility is of the highest
quality.
TwinGrow is donated to many community projects annually, including the
community gardens and school green house programs. It is also sold and used locally
through many of Steamboat’s landscaping services.
Events
The Zero Waste Initiative has been helping events “Go Zero” since 2009 with the
partnerships of Waste Management for recycling and Twin Enviro Services for
composting. As of 2011 all Steamboat Ski Area events, Strawberry Park and Soda Creek
Elementary events, the Free Summer Concert Series, Mainstreet Steamboat’s Summer
Saturday Market, and Steamboat Springs Chamber Mixers, are “Zero Waste.” The ZWI
has also worked with Rotary Steamboat,
If you are interested in making your next event Zero Waste, email zero@yvsc.org
for our event packet.
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Other Compost and Compost Collection Options
Residential Program
Starting in 2012, Twin Enviro Services will be offering a residential pickup for
Steamboat Springs. Five gallon buckets will be delivered to interested homes, and at
the rate of $8 per pickup, residents can decide whether they want their bucket retrieved
weekly, bi monthly, or monthly. Buckets come with animal-proof lids, and can be simply
left outside the home for pickup. An empty bucket will replace your full one when
scheduled.
Program participants will be given 10 square yards of rich soil compost twice a
year, and additional compost can be purchased for $3 per square yard.
Email milner@twinenviro.com to join this program.
Restaurant Program
From 2009-2011 Twin Enviro Services has been working with the restaurants at
the Steamboat Ski Area to ensure that their food waste is made into compost, and its
restaurants are the town’s largest contributor to TwinGrow compost.
Twin Enviro has begun working with the Steamboat Grand and the Steamboat
Sheraton Resort in 2011, and will continue to take on restaurants locally as their
workforce grows. If you are interested in compost pickup your restaurant, email
milner@twinenviro.com.
Bark Beetle Pine Compost Bins
Sacred Resource owner Chris Bradley has been constructing vermicomposters
from locally harvested bark beetle pine trees. Because these are made out of wood,
they make an ideal environment for creating soil, and can’t leach BPAs and other
chemicals from plastic into your compost. Contact: chris@sacred-resource.com
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