Free to Summit County Residents
Summit County residents can recycle their food scraps for free at several locations. Once you enroll, you’ll receive a code to access the food scrap bins. This code changes periodically to prevent trash dumping. You will be notified via email of code changes and program updates.
Call HC3 at 970-668-5703 with any questions or if you are interested in establishing a food scrap collection at your HOA or office.
Food Scrap Drop Off Locations
How Does It Work?
Accepted: All Food
Includes: fruit pits and peels, meat, bones, coffee grounds, spoiled food, and baked or processed foods.
Not Accepted
All paper, plastic, and ‘compostable’ (i.e. bags, coffee filters, and tea bags) products are NOT accepted in the food scrap program. Why? These products simply do not breakdown in our arid mountain environment and are lightweight which blow off the composting piles creating litter.
Collecting Your Food Scraps
- Get a free collection bucket: request one
- Reduce waste with proper food storage
Collecting food scraps is an easy, important step in reducing our waste and carbon pollution. The compost generated from local food scraps creates a valuable amendment to nourish our soil.
Local Compost Made From Your Food Scraps
Food scraps are transported to the Summit County Resource Allocation Park (SCRAP), where they are combined with biosolids and wood chips from beetle-killed pine trees. In just 13 weeks, the mixture is transformed into compost, a valuable soil amendment. Compost not only adds nutrients to your lawn and garden, it helps the soil retain moisture, which is critical in our dry climate.
SCRAP’s local compost is the highest grade of compost governed by the Environmental Protection Agency, meaning it’s approved for all uses including herbs and vegetables. SCRAP also chooses to certify their product through the United States Composting Council’s Seal of Testing Assurance (STA), which has strict testing requirements. In short – it’s the good stuff.
Free compost samples are offered to all Food Scrap Program participants each spring. Compost can be purchased other times of year by the bag or cubic yard. Detailed information about the High Country Compost can be found here.
