BY FREDA MIKLIN
GOVERNMENTAL REPORTER
In the July 2023 issue of its monthly newsletter sent to all the city’s households, Greenwood Village announced, “Based on feedback received from the community, the City will not be pursuing providing a composting service.” They thanked “all 70 residents who provided their input and ideas regarding residential composting through Village Voices, the City’s online engagement platform, during the input period from March 3 to May 2, 2023.” For those who are interested in composting, “Information and resources will be available at Greenwood Village Day on July 29 from 4:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at Village Greens Park.”
Although the newsletter did not say why the decision was made, and it has not been discussed at any public meeting of the city council, GV told The Villager, “There was just not enough support for Council to establish a program at this time,” but they “are committed to more community education on this topic in the future.”
One hundred percent of the 68 responses left on VillageVoices.com by GV residents to the question of whether they want the city to provide composting service comments contained the answer “yes.”
They included:
- “STRONGLY SUPPORT GV making composting available.”
- “I strongly support a composting service in GV! I think it would be a great service to have in our community.”
- “I support Greenwood Village providing a weekly compost pick up service.”
- “Fully Support Composting! So many items that go in the trash can be composted. If it’s an option, why not provide it for residents?”
- “Composting in GV is essential to eliminating organic materials from the landfill, which contributes greatly to greenhouse gas.”
- “I strongly support having a composting service provided in Greenwood Village. We had it when we lived in Denver, and so much less waste.”
- “Yes, we need a composting service, reduce trash and dumping into landfills.”
- “Yes! We would support and utilize residential composting!”
- “Absolutely GV ought to offer composting. We’re plagued with more and more consumer waste every year—let’s divert what we can responsibly.”
The discussion about composting in GV started in earnest when a GV resident, Julia Pace, came to the council a year ago, as she was about to enter West Middle School, and told her elected officials, “I love the environment. I’ve lived in Greenwood Village my whole life. I’m here tonight to collaborate with you to bring composting to the Greenwood Village community… According to the U.S. Public Interest Research Group…Americans land-filled or incinerated over 15,000,000 tons of compostable waste in 2015.” She also shared that she had personally gotten 50 families in her GV neighborhood to sign up and begin composting just by explaining how it works and its benefits. After pointing to the city’s robust financial reserves, she said, “As a resident of Greenwood Village, I am requesting a Call to Action.”
On January 9, 2023, the council was told by its public works director that it could 1) provide the service to all its 4,600 households that currently receive trash service, at a cost of $800,000; 2) do a pilot program, providing the service only to residents who request it; 3) identify a preferred provider and negotiate a discounted rate for residents who choose to use it; 4) provide information about composting at a booth at public events.
The council instructed the city manager to determine the level of interest in composting among city residents. www.VillageVoices.com, the city’s public input website, open to all, was chosen as the method to do so, leading to the two-month period when residents could do so by providing a comment along with their identifying information.
At that January meeting, it was brought out by Council Member Anne Ingebretsen that GV could use the money it will receive from the state-imposed plastic bag fees to help pay for the cost of providing composting service to residents who wish to use it. She asked that the city keep track of that money once it begins to come in next year.
Based on what was determined to be lackluster response on the city’s website, the council has opted to only provide information about composting to residents at a booth at public events like Greenwood Village Day.
fmiklin.villager@gmail.com