Pitkin County outlines 50% waste-diversion goal, plans to expand composting and cardboard bans

Pitkin County solid waste staff on Jan. 28 presented a county-produced waste diversion plan that sets a target of diverting 50% of municipal solid waste by 2030 and 75% by 2040.

The plan, presented by Kathy Hall, Pitkin County solid waste director, and Cameron Garcia, solid waste diversion analyst, uses a 2022 baseline waste sort and recommends five initial actions the county says are achievable: a cardboard landfill ban, expanded food-waste collection, enhanced outreach and education, audits of county buildings for waste reduction and creation of a regional waste coalition with nearby municipalities and stakeholders.

Why it matters: staff said organics are the largest remaining component of trash going to the landfill and therefore the largest opportunity to reduce methane emissions and landfill volume. The plan ties directly to the county’s climate-action work and includes numerical estimates of greenhouse-gas impacts and the value of materials currently lost to landfill.

Most important findings and targets - Baseline and targets: staff used a 2022 waste sort as the baseline and plan to repeat the sort every five years. The plan’s headline targets are 50% diversion by 2030 and 75% diversion of municipal solid waste (MSW) by 2040. - Current diversion: Hall told commissioners the county’s diversion rate was about 42% through 2023 (staff…