Denver is set to start its phased approach to bring weekly composting services to all 180,000 waste collection customers in the city next month.

The service is part of the June 2022 measure to address climate change by reducing landfill waste that also included weekly recycling collection that began in January and new monthly costs for regular trash collection.

The city will start delivering composting bins neighborhood by neighborhood in July. Deliveries will take into next year. Customers can begin composting as soon as they receive their bins.

The regular trash fees started earlier this year, ranging from $9 per month for the smallest trash cart to $21 per month for the largest.

Once composting begins in their neighborhood, customers will be able to trade their larger trash carts for smaller carts and pay the cheaper fee.

Until residents receive their new composting carts, they should be receiving a “Phased Service Roll-out Credit” to compensate since they don’t know what size of trash can they will eventually need.

The roughly 30,000 customers who already subscribed to composting service will not receive that credit.

Residents can still request smaller bins now if they know they need a smaller size, said Vanessa Lacayo, a spokeswoman for the transportation and infrastructure department, though the department recommends waiting until they receive their compost carts so they know what size trash cart they need.

If a resident does request a smaller trash cart, the resident will be credited on their invoice once they receive the smaller cart based on when they made the request. For instance, if a resident requested a smaller cart in April and didn’t receive their new cart until June, they would be credited for the difference from April through June.

Regarding cart exchanges, customers can request them online at www.denvergov.org/carts or by calling 311, and the city will deliver them, or they can visit the city’s Osage facility at 2013 S. Osage St. Tuesday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., to exchange their cart.

Lacayo said the city is still finalizing the exact schedule and start date for the phased launch of the composting services.

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