In keeping with the city council's 2008 zero waste initiative, Boulder officials have added an attention grabbing pilot program to three locations along the Pearl Street Mall.
New compost bins have been placed alongside traditional recycle bins to give tourists and residents the chance to recycle their food waste rather than trash it. The city is trying to persuade local businesses to switch to compostable containers by having free zero waste technical advisors available to businesses, rebates and subsidizing their composting. The worst offenders are disposable coffee cups, which are compostable, but before the bins were in place ended up in the trash. Western disposal operates the compost facility, and the compost is used throughout the county.