Food Scrap Program - High Country Conservation Center

Thanks to 1A/Strong Future, Summit County’s food scrap program is now FREE to residents!

Collecting food scraps is an easy and important step in reducing our waste and carbon pollution. We can all do it! Even better, the compost generated from the process creates a valuable amendment to nourish our soil.

Learn more about the impact and importance of collecting your food scraps in our Ask Eartha article.

How to get started:

Register for the program and receive a code to access the drop-off food scrap bins at the Frisco or Breckenridge Recycling Center. View drop-off locations. This code is required to open the bear-proof bins and will change periodically to reduce contamination. You will be notified via email regarding code or program updates.

Learn How The Food Scrap Bins Work

Watch video

Food scrap bin

Need a compost bucket?

HC3 will be giving away free buckets to program participants while supplies last. Just stop by the office to pick up your bucket Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The HC3 office is located upstairs at 737 Ten Mile Drive in Frisco. Don’t wait, supplies are limited!

Questions? Give us a call at 970-668-5703.

Accepted: All Food

This includes: fruit pits and peels, meat, bones, coffee grounds, spoiled food, and baked or processed foods.

Watch the video above to see the correct collecting in action.

Not Accepted

All paper, plastic and ‘compostable’ products are NOT accepted in the food scrap program. Even compostable bags, coffee filters, and tea bags are NOT accepted.

Why? Besides these products being lightweight which blow off the composting piles and cause litter, these materials simply do not breakdown in our arid mountain environment.

Contact Hayden at hayden@highcountryconservation.org if you are interested in establishing a drop-off food scrap location near you.

Download a Food Scrap Label

Buy Local Compost

You can purchase locally made compost from the Summit County Resource Allocation Park at the landfill near Keystone. The compost is created with food waste, biosolids and wood chips from mountain pine beetle kill – one solution to deal with a substantial amount of dead trees. This compost meets all STA Class III certifications.

Nutrient-rich compost starts at $19 a cubic yard. For more info about the High Country Compost product, please click here or contact (970) 468-9263 x0.

Application & Use

Compost Pricing