One year after the city of Aspen imposed an organic waste diversion ordinance, the amount of food waste diverted to the compost section of the Pitkin County landfill increased by 70%. The organic waste diversion ordinance, which the Aspen City Council approved in February 2023, prohibits all businesses with retail food licenses from disposing of organic material such as food into landfill trash. Organics must be composted or donated.
All restaurants were required to start composting in October 2023, and most of them hit the ground running, said Ainsley Brosnan-Smith, the city鈥檚 waste diversion and recycling program administrator. 鈥淢y favorite part of it was working more with the chefs because they understand food waste and they see it all the time and they want to make sure that we have healthy soils so we can grow the best products and food so they can make the best food and serve it to their customers,鈥� Brosnan-Smith said.
鈥淪o at the restaurants I approached, there was a good amount of chefs that said, 鈥榊eah I鈥檓 so used to this, I would do it in New York, I would do it in Vermont, I would do it in California, I鈥檓 glad that we鈥檙e finally doing it here,鈥欌�� she continued. Around 105 businesses in town are complying with the ordinance. The city council directed town staff to implement the ordinance during off season to make sure there was time for education and to iron out kinks before restaurant service ramped up during the 2023-24 ski season.