FOOD SCRAPS FOR COMPOSTING FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions about Food Scraps for Composting in Summit County, Colorado

What is Composting?

Composting is the process of breaking down organic materials, such as food waste, into a nutrient-rich soil amendment that can be used in gardening and landscaping.

What are the benefits of composting?

Composting can help reduce waste in landfills, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and provide a natural source of fertilizer for plants. Composting can also help improve soil health and water retention.

What materials can be composted?

Summit County allows ONLY FOOD SCRAPS (fruits, vegetables, grains, meats, bones, coffee grounds, etc.) to enter into its composting stream. If you would put it in your mouth and eat from it, then in general you may compost it. While additional items may compost in other environments, mountain environments are more arid and challenging to work with. Plus opening up allowable contents beyond food scraps opens up pandora's box for contamination. Focusing on food scraps keeps the composting piles clean and free of contamination and prevents the highest methane emitting items from unnecessarily entering into the landfill.

What materials cannot be composted?

Summit County does not allow any items other than food scraps or anything with a compostable or biodegradable "claim" including but not limited to stickers, silverware, plates, cups, bags, coffee filters, tea bags, greasy pizza boxes, yard waste, vacuum bag contents, hair, dog poop, recyclables, metal, plastic, glass or trash.

Do it right, or don't participate. If your bucket contains anything other than food scraps, it will not be collected and will be left behind for you to deal with as trash.

What are the different food-scraps composting services offered by Garbage Gurus?

Garbage Gurus collects food scraps for composting in either curbside or valet service options for residential properties (homes, townhomes, apartments or condos) and commercial entities. Commercial entities should contact Garbage Gurus with interest to discuss available rates and pick up frequencies for service of 64-gal. carts.

What is the Difference between Curbside and Valet Service?

With Curbside Service, you will be responsible for leaving and retrieving your composting bucket at the end of the driveway on collection days. Valet Service is a valet option where we make the process easiest for you by collecting and returning your food scraps from your front door or behind a closed shed or garage door. Due to wildlife concerns, with both Curbside and Valet service options, Garbage Gurus will only collect your food scraps from airtight buckets with screw top lids, (3.5 gallon bucket with a red lid).

Why Should I Consider Valet, Food-Scraps, Pick-up Services offered by Garbage Gurus?

Composting is a social responsibility that prevents methane from leaking into the atmosphere as happens when food scraps end up in a landfill. Week after week food scraps pile up and need to disappear for the loop to start anew. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Your life is busy. It is inconvenient to transport your food scraps to composting stations, you can't be there on collection days, you don't want to drag your bucket to the curb and back or you're sick of battling the driveway, weather and wildlife. In any event, you definitely have better things to do than to invest time and energy in handling & transporting your food scraps for composting. Let Garbage Gurus give you a hand and make it disappear.

Valet collection services of food scraps for composting offered by Garbage Gurus are a worry-free option for doing your part to fight climate change. Simply collect your food scraps in an airtight bucket sourced from High Country Conversation Center, HC3, or Garbage Gurus only (we will not service any other container due to wildlife concerns) and store it in your garage to await pick up. From there, Garbage Gurus will collect your food scraps without any extra efforts required of you.

How does the Garbage Gurus, Valet, Food-Scraps Pick-up Service work?

Select your service needs online and provide us with details about how to access your food scraps composting bucket. Sharing your access code with us to remotely open the garage is the most common method. If you're wondering, yes, we are bonded and insured. If you're not comfortable with us entering your garage, that's no problem. We'll pick up your food scraps from just outside the garage door or from your front porch according to your preference and instructions. Next, we add you to the route for the day Garbage Gurus services your area. A Garbage Gurus handler will drive into your driveway with one of our small trucks, will gain access to, remove, and empty your food scraps composting bucket, will return the empty bucket to its storage position, and will take a picture of your empty bucket and your closed garage door to text to you along with a brief message informing you that your pick up has been completed. It's that simple. When you schedule Valet food scraps composting service, we will repeat that process over and over again each week.

Price Options for Summit County: Compost Only, Compost +1 or Compost +2

1. Compost Only is for new customers with no other waste removal services being supplied by Garbage Gurus.

2. Compost +1 is for customers with one other Garbage Gurus service such as trash only or single-stream recycling service.

3. Compost +2 is for customers with a bundled plan or two or more individual services with Garbage Gurus.

Please visit Composting FAQs for detailed composting guidelines.

When does Garbage Gurus pick up my food scraps composting?

First pick ups will begin on Earth Day, Monday, April 22. As collection of food scraps for composting is an entirely new service offered by Garbage Gurus, demand will dictate how routes are designed. Initially, while launching this food scraps composting collection program, pick up days may differ from regular trash & recycling collection days. However, it is the Garbage Gurus aim to eventually collect all waste items in your area on the same day.

New service orders must be received by Garbage Gurus before 11:00 a.m. on Friday to be guaranteed to be added to the route for the following week.

Holidays Observed:

New Year's Day. Memorial Day. Independence Day. Labor Day. Thanksgiving Day. Christmas Day.

If a holiday falls on a pick up day, this will delay pick ups by one day for the rest of the week.

Click on the following link to read more about Garbage Gurus White-Glove Trash-Removal Services.

Click on the following link to read more about Garbage Gurus Curbside Removal Services.