By the end of 2017, the City of Denver will have completely phased out dumpsters in favor of cart-based trash service.听Charlotte Pitt, manager of听Denver Recycles and听Solid Waste Management, understands that that鈥檚 a controversial statement.
鈥淭here was a lot of fear when we took dumpsters away,鈥� Pitt says of the process that began four years ago. 鈥淲e heard comments when we visited with neighborhood organizations and residents to talk about transitioning, and one of the big fears was that 鈥楾rash carts aren鈥檛 going to hold all my waste,鈥� or 鈥業鈥檓 not going to remember my trash day,鈥� and 鈥榃hat about the elderly and disabled people?鈥� 鈥榃here am I going to put my cart?鈥欌�� But when she circled back to the neighborhood groups after the change, Pitt found that their fears had been just that: fears.
In 2010, Denver drew up a plan to more effectively manage waste. Serious changes needed to be made: Solid Waste Management was collecting 220,000 tons of trash a year, or 440,000,000 pounds, and most of it was either compostable or recyclable. Another big problem was illegal dumping, much of which Pitt suspected came from contractors and small businesses. So four years ago, the city started replacing dumpsters with individual carts that homeowners and apartment-dwellers roll out to the street for pick-up on designated days.
The theory behind the trash cart is simple: The smaller the end container, the more people will think about what they鈥檙e throwing away. And it seems to be working. Last year, the city collected 30,000 tons less trash than in 2010; since 2015, there has been a 140-pound reduction on average per household. What鈥檚 more, 鈥淲hat we鈥檝e seen as we鈥檝e rolled out the carts are more people are reporting illegal dumping when it happens now,鈥� Pitt says. 鈥淲hereas someone may have in the past put extra waste besides a dumpster with the idea that we would see it [and pick it up], now if someone does dump, we get a call pretty quickly that it happens.鈥�
It鈥檚 not a perfect system. Prowl Denver鈥檚 streets and alleys, and you鈥檒l surely come across piles of trash 鈥� sofas, old TVs 鈥� mounded by the new carts. Those carts aren鈥檛 immediately feasible for every home and apartment building, either, especially in denser areas of the city. According to Pitt, some leasing companies and landlords are more cooperative than others and will make space for a few carts 鈥� though technically, every unit the city services is eligible for one. 鈥淓ither the building will say, 鈥楬ey, we don鈥檛 need [individual] trash carts; we鈥檒l share,鈥� [or] in other instances…we鈥檝e seen individual units say, 鈥楴o, I want my own trash cart, but I don鈥檛 generate that much…so I鈥檒l opt into the smallest-sized trash cart.鈥欌�� (Residents should call 311 to change the size of their carts.)
But a fundamental issue with Denver鈥檚 waste-management program remains the way that residents are charged for trash pick-up. Unlike some cities that bill for the service directly and hit up big wasters for more, households here aren鈥檛 directly charged for trash services; the fee is incorporated into our taxes. 鈥淚f you look at any city across the country that鈥檚 achieving high waste diversion 鈥� Seattle, San Francisco, Portland 鈥� all of them have some sort of pay-as-you-throw structure,鈥� Pitt says. 鈥淚t treats waste as a utility, where you pay for how much you use. That鈥檚 an industry best-management practice to achieve higher waste-diversion goals.鈥�
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