Jen Schenk, the executive director of the High Country Conservation Center, spoke to the Summit County Board of Commissioners during its June 17 work session. She gave updates from the center on the implementation of the pay-as-you-throw trash program, Strong Futures community grants, waste diversion efforts and more.
The pay-as-you-throw program charges different prices for different sized bins and brings curbside recycling pickup to more of Summit County, measures intended to increase recycling and reduce the amount of waste going into the Summit County Resource Allocation Park landfill.
Frisco and Breckenridge already have pay-as-you-throw programs, and rollout of the program for unincorporated parts of Summit County started this year after the board of commissioners approved it in 2024. Jen Schenk said Waste Management has decided to implement pay-as-you-throw for all its Summit County customers.
"Whether or not someone lives in Breck, Frisco and incorporated Summit County, that obviously has an ordinance going into effect, everyone will be subject to pay-as-you-throw pricing for Waste Management," Jen Schenk said.
The program has upset some residents, who have complained about the rates increasing for the bins they already have. Jen Schenk said the conservation center has received many direct calls from residents and even some calls to Waste Management that the company's call center in Phoenix, Arizona, has transferred to the conservation center.
Some of those calls have been about customers not being able to get the size of bin they want, which the conservation center cannot help with, so Jen Schenk said the center and Waste Management have scheduled monthly calls to better communication between the organizations.
Residents of Frisco and Breckenridge called the conservation center often before and during the rollout of the pay-as-you-throw program there, Jen Schenk said, but they rarely hear complaints from those residents now.
"The folks that I've talked to in Frisco and Breck have seemed pretty happy with the program," Jen Schenk said. "There really weren't any complaints, probably about six months after the program rolled out."
The center is doing outreach to businesses and homeowners associations throughout the county, Jen Schenk said.
"We've done 25 site visits so far this year," Jen Schenk said. "We've individually reached out to, you know, been corresponding with 100 HOAs so far this year."
A forum the center hosted about the pay-as-you-throw program June 12 drew about 50 attendees, and Jen Schenk said the event went well.
Jen Schenk also spoke about the waste reduction grants the center issues, which are funded by the county's Strong Future program. This year's round of grants will award $285,000, and the center's committee is considering nine large applications of $25,000 to $75,000, as well as nine smaller applications.
The center's committee will look at the two categories of grant applications separately, and Jen Schenk said the center will present to the commissioners about what programs it recommends to fund in July.
Bill Schenk, the resource allocation park assistant director, gave an update to the commissioners about the dump. He said the dump recently purchased a Rotochopper, which is a large machine used to grind waste materials into mulch, compost and biofuels.
"This is going to enable us to grind that slash pile that we've amassed already this year at our own pace and use it for our composting program," Bill Schenk said.
The resource allocation park will also grind wood pallets and dimensional lumber into mulch, remove any nails with magnets and dye the mulch so it can be sold for landscaping. Bill Schenk said the dump modeled the program off a successful one in Pitkin County, where the dyed mulch often sells out.
Bill Schenk said the resource allocation park hired a construction and deconstruction specialist recently, and they have been working to educate builders on the benefits of diverting materials from the landfill.
Updates to the convenience center at the resource allocation park will allow people to drop off electronics, scrap metal and other waste materials without having to drive into the landfill, Bill Schenk said.
Jen Schenk took the floor again, telling the commissioners that the conservation center had recently hired a bilingual program coordinator to assist with outreach to the Spanish-speaking community.
The conservation center has a goal of reaching a 40% diversion rate by 2035, and Jen Schenk said the county's 2024 rate was 21%. The municipal solid waste diversion rate, which excludes things like construction waste and biosolids from its equation, was 29% for 2024.
"This municipal solid waste number is often what you'll see other communities reporting on," Jen Schenk said. "I also think that this is the number we should be paying more attention to as we want to see impacts of recycling, because this is a number that's going to move more easily with pay-as-you-throw."
The pay-as-you-throw program seems to have increased recycling in Summit County, Jen Schenk said. The program started in Breckenridge and Frisco in October 2023, and comparing data from that year to 2024 shows an increase in recycling.
"From 2023 to 2024, we saw a 10% increase in single stream recycling county wide," Jen Schenk said. "Frisco and Breck residents aren't even a third of the total residents in Summit County."
To achieve a 40% diversion rate, the county needs to divert about 31,200 tons of waste per year. Jen Schenk said it diverted 16,550 tons in 2024, leaving a gap of 14,650 tons. The conservation center, she said, will have to focus on three areas to achieve the goal: recycling, food scraps and other organics, and construction and demolition waste.
"There's really no way to hit that 40% goal without doing all three things," Jen Schenk said.
The center plans on continuing pay-as-you-throw programs to incentivize recycling, focusing on yard waste and commercial food scraps to increase organic material diversion, and using tools like the Rotochopper and educational outreach to builders to minimize construction and demolition waste.
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