Denver will deliver green compost bins to every solid waste customer who wants one by the end of March, city officials said in announcing an acceleration of their often-maligned rollout.
The citywide expansion of composting service had been expected to take until the end of 2025. But to hit the moved-up deadline — and limit the greenhouse gas emissions of its trucks — Denver will cut back on collecting recyclable items from customers’ purple bins. Recycling pickup will go from weekly to every other week starting Jan. 6.
The frequency of large-item pickup services will also be reduced from once every four weeks to once every nine weeks next year, the city’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure announced Thursday.
The coming changes won’t impact the base prices charged by the city. Pay-as-you-throw trash collection service will still be priced based on the size of the black trash bins each customer uses — ranging from $9 to $21 per month. The city has been providing $9 quarterly credits to customers who are still waiting for compost services. Those credits will end in April, according to DOTI.
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The city pivoted to a fee-based trash service and weekly recycling pickups at the beginning of 2023 as it also began making compost pickup a standard free service. Based on observations since then, city officials expressed hope that the tweaks would improve reliability and help the city better meet its landfill diversion and greenhouse gas emission reduction goals.
“What we’ve learned over the years is (that) we are dramatically underusing our recycling bins each week. We are actually increasing our impact on the environment by running that much recycling (pickup) without that much demand,” Mayor Mike Johnston said in an interview. “We can use the people and the trucks to run those weekly compost routes all over the city.”
When the City Council approved the city’s transition of trash collection services to a program funded by fees on residential customers, one of the selling points was a doubling of recycling collection frequency from every other week to weekly.
But the added work put a strain on an understaffed waste collection department immediately, requiring the city to contract with a third-party hauler to provide those weekly pickups in some neighborhoods through 2026. Customers have been frustrated at times with missed pickups of different services.
In May, officials told a council committee that city collectors and contractors were completing 94% of their routes every week through that point in the year, down from 95% in 2023. That completion rate has slipped further since, according to DOTI leadership.
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“These adjustments in our collection schedules will allow us to improve customer service, creating greater reliability in our collection services and improving route completion rates for trash, compost and recycling,” DOTI executive director Amy Ford said in a DOTI news release. “In other words, we pick up your solid waste the day we tell you we are going to pick it up. Today we are at 90%, and we are striving to be at 95%.”
DOTI will be sending letters to 67,000 solid waste customers next month asking them which size compost bin they would like, the release says.
Those customers live in the city’s waste collection districts 1, 6, 7 and 9, which generally cover some northwest, central, east and southeast neighborhoods. They will then have until Jan. 10 to opt into the service and receive their compost bins as part of a first round of deliveries early next year.
There are 180,000 solid waste customers in the city. Bins have been provided in four of Denver’s nine collection districts so far, with rollouts still in progress in District 3, which covers northeastern neighborhoods including Park Hill and Central Park, according to DOTI’s release.
Denverites can dispose of food scraps and yard waste in their compost bins, reducing the amount of waste that otherwise would go to the city’s landfill and emit greenhouse gases like methane as it decomposes. With composting, those items are turned into a nutrient-rich soil additive.
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DOTI said the initial wave of requested green-bin deliveries would be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2025. Johnston was more specific during his interview, setting March 15 as the likely completion date for the ramped-up rollout.
The data Johnston and other city officials are using to inform decisions suggest that 50% of a household’s weekly waste is compostable, 25% is recyclable and the final 25% is landfill trash, he said.
DOTI said running large-item pickup on a once-every-four-weeks basis was a factor adding to the city’s waste stream by encouraging people to trash items they might otherwise be able to offload through alternative means.
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Updated (at 3:43 p.m. on Nov. 7, 2024):Due to an error by a reporter, this story originally misreported one of the neighborhoods that is currently receiving compost bins.
Dogs like Bailey — the former Dog of the Week in The Denver Post’s Adventurist newsletter — will be in good company at the first Denver Dog Fair this weekend. (Provided by Barbara Ellis)
Denver Dog Fair
Saturday-Sunday. Woof! If the last few weeks have left you panting, why not surround yourself with unconditional love? The first Denver Dog Fair takes place on Nov. 22 and 23 with the promise of unending poochie goodness. There will be dog adoption booths, “celebrity” dogs, performances and tricks, a dog-fashion show, vendors, a dozen food trucks, kids’ bounce house, crafting, and more.
It takes place indoors at the Arapahoe County Fairgrounds, 25690 E. Quincy Ave. in Aurora, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. Tickets: $20, good for both days; 5 and under free. $5 per dog. Price includes all entertainment and activities (minus adoption fees and food/drink). denverdogfair.com
Christkindlmarket and the Mile High Tree
Friday. The annual Mile High Tree at Civic Center park has quickly become a modern classic in Denver, with its 110-foot-tall display of 60,000, color-changing LED lights. Its location next to the annual Christkindlmarket and across from the brightly decorated Denver City & County Building makes it a one-stop shop for free family holiday fun.
At the 24th Christkindlmarket you’ll find local vendors plus Glühwein (mulled spiced wine), German biers and hot chocolate, Bavarian-style pretzels, fresh smoked salmon, Knödel, goulash, Nürnberger sausages, pastries, caramels and European chocolates. The tree’s light-and-music shows run from 5 to 10 p.m. nightly.
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The market and tree both open on Friday, Nov. 22, with the market running through Dec. 23. The market is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday-Wednesday; and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. denver.org/milehighholidays/mile-high-tree or christkindlmarketdenver.com
Charlie Fausette, 6, from Tampa, Fla., ice skates with her father Rob at Downtown Denver Rink in Denver on Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Free ice skating downtown
Through Feb. 2, 2025. Whatever the weather, you can get a bit of holiday fun in by stopping by the popular Downtown Denver Rink. The rink, which basically bisects the 16th Street Mall’s Skyline Park (just outside the Daniels and Fisher Clocktower at 16th and Arapahoe streets), is a public rink where you can rent or bring your own skates.
It’s open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday-Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Entry is free; skate rentals are $12 for adults and $9 for kids 12 and under. winterindenver.com/rink
Santa and Mrs. Claus will be ready for photos at the Denver Christmas Show, this year moving to the National Western Complex. (Provided by Michelle Ellis)
A very merry Denver Christmas Show
Friday-Sunday. You don’t have to be in the market for gifts to get something out of the Denver Christmas Show at the National Western Complex. It’s a family-friendly affair, with Santa visits (and photos), daily storytime and hot cocoa with Mrs. Claus, live music, dancing, and more.
Of course, if you want to pick up some candy or chocolate, local gifts, or holiday decor, that will be right there too (with free gift wrapping), as well as plenty of other vendors. Tickets for the Friday, Nov. 22-Sunday, Nov. 24, event are $14 for 14-and-up, and free for 13-and-under. It runs 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at 4655 Humboldt St. in Denver. denverchristmasshow.com
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Dallas Mavericks (8-7, 11th in the Western Conference) vs. Denver Nuggets (8-5, fifth in the Western Conference)
Denver; Friday, 10 p.m. EST
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BOTTOM LINE: Dallas seeks to keep its three-game win streak alive when the Mavericks take on Denver.
The Nuggets are 4-5 in Western Conference games. Denver is fifth in the league with 46.2 rebounds led by Nikola Jokic averaging 13.7.
The Mavericks have gone 6-6 against Western Conference opponents. Dallas ranks sixth in the Western Conference with 17.2 fast break points per game led by Luka Doncic averaging 4.6.
The Nuggets make 46.8% of their shots from the field this season, which is 2.1 percentage points higher than the Mavericks have allowed to their opponents (44.7%). The Mavericks average 115.6 points per game, 0.5 more than the 115.1 the Nuggets give up to opponents.
TOP PERFORMERS: Michael Porter Jr. is shooting 47.9% and averaging 18.3 points for the Nuggets.
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Kyrie Irving is averaging 24.3 points and 5.2 assists for the Mavericks.
LAST 10 GAMES: Nuggets: 7-3, averaging 119.7 points, 45.4 rebounds, 30.7 assists, 9.0 steals and 4.5 blocks per game while shooting 48.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 116.0 points per game.
Mavericks: 5-5, averaging 118.0 points, 44.3 rebounds, 25.5 assists, 7.7 steals and 4.8 blocks per game while shooting 50.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 109.2 points.
INJURIES: Nuggets: Aaron Gordon: out (calf), DaRon Holmes II: out for season (achilles), Nikola Jokic: day to day (personal).
Mavericks: Dante Exum: out (wrist).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Pop music icon Billie Eilish had a very important request before performing a sold-out show at Denver’s Ball Arena on Tuesday night: She wanted to snuggle with some animals.
Two Front Range shelters were more than happy to bring some furry friends for a backstage meet-and-greet with Eilish and her team, Brighter Days Dog Rescue founder and director Becca Orin said.
Broken Shovels Farm Sanctuary first got the request through the venue, and the Commerce City sanctuary teamed up with Brighter Days in Boulder to bring puppies, kittens and a pony to the arena.
Billie Eilish snuggles with a puppy and pony from Brighter Days Dog Rescue and Broken Shovels Farm Sanctuary before performing at Ball Arena in Denver on Nov. 19, 2024. (Courtesy of Becca Orin)
Eilish, her mom and team were “amazing,” Orin said, and showered the animals with love – particularly Samson the pony, who was overjoyed by all of the attention and cookies.
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Brighter Days shared photos of the visit in a post on Facebook, with Eilish grinning cheek-to-cheek with a puppy and getting a nuzzle from Samson.
“This is not the first time we have brought animals to Ball Arena for the artists ahead of their performance, but this was the first time the artist was kind enough and generous enough to let us take pictures and give us permission to post them on social media,” Orin said.
Eilish is set to perform a second sold-out show at Ball Arena on Wednesday night as part of her Hit Me Hard And Soft Tour.
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