Eco-Cycle is now collecting for composting all food waste, plant waste and non-recyclable paper products from businesses in the City of Boulder. We’ll be expanding this program to businesses throughout Boulder and Broomfield Counties in coming months. Contact our Business Recycling Department today about starting service.

Why compost? Organic material, including food waste, landscaping waste, non-recyclable paper products and waxed cardboard are all compostable. Composting, also called organics recycling, is a natural process that turns organic material into a nutrient-rich product called compost, a soil amendment valuable to the agricultural and other industries. Learning to think of organics as a precious resource rather than garbage is an important step toward reducing the amount of waste that your business sends to the landfill.

Landfills are expensive and contribute to global warming.
Landfills are a costly and unsustainable method of waste management. The cost to the consumer of sending waste material to a landfill does not reflect the true long-term costs, both economic and environmental, of managing waste in this way. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, buried waste is the #1 source of human-caused methane gas, a potent greenhouse gas that is a major contributor to global warming. When organic material like food and yard waste decomposes in an anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment like a landfill, methane gas is produced. Diverting compostables away from landfills is a crucial way to reduce the amount of methane gas that ends up in our atmosphere.

Businesses generate a lot of organic waste. According to a recent study by a local economic research firm, the waste stream from the commercial sector in Boulder County contains an average of 47% of organic material across industries. By separating organic material from other trash for collection and processing at a compost facility, you will reduce the amount of waste your business sends to the landfill, minimize the impact that your business makes on the environment, and potentially cut costs by reducing the volume or frequency of trash collection.

A staff member at the Boulder Co-op Market empties food waste into an Eco-Cycle compost dumpster.

It's easy. Diverting as much as half of the waste your business currently throws away as trash isn't complicated, and the tangible result of these simple actions is both gratifying and important. By separating compostables from trash you don't change what material gets discarded, only how it's handled once it goes out the back door.

Eco-Cycle now offers a complete package of services designed to help your business make a big difference for the environment for about the same cost as trash service alone. Through education about waste reduction and the most comprehensive collection services available in Boulder and Broomfield Counties, businesses that recycle and compost with Eco-Cycle can keep 90% or more of the waste they produce out of landfills!

Call the Business Recycling Department at 303-444-6634 or e-mail us for more information.

Page last modified September 2004