Pitkin County - Waste and Recycling

"What We Do"

Here are some of the many services we offer the community. If you have any questions, please call us at (970) 923-3487.

Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Recycling and Disposal - We divert over 1,000 gallons of paints, oils, fuel and solvents, antifreeze, batteries and miscellaneous hazardous materials generated by area households from our landfill each year. A significant volume of hazardous material is generated by businesses and institutions; we provide advice and support to help them manage their hazardous wastes. We have improved our hazardous materials storage capacity, and have requested a modification to our Operating Plan from the State which will allow us to manage commercial and institutional hazardous waste in small quantities. We are phasing in that program now - first with latex paints and waste petroleum products. The full extent of the program is yet to be determined. Disposal costs for HHW are increasing, but this program definitely reduces the toxicity of the waste disposed of in our landfill, therefore decreasing our potential liability.

Yard and Wood Waste Composting - About 15% of the waste which is received at the landfill is brush, grass clippings, barn waste, and lumber from construction. We currently divert as much of this material as possible to the composting operation. An incentive is created for customers to separate wood waste from trash as the wood waste is accepted at a lower rate than trash. It is combined with wastewater treatment sludge from Aspen & Basalt Sanitation Districts, which is currently accepted for free, and about from 5,000 to 10,000 cubic yards of compost is produced each year for sale.

Materials Recovery Facility - We sort 2 grades of plastic, 3 colors of glass, aluminum and steel cans, carpet pad, and 4 grades of paper/cardboard at the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). Recyclable materials are brought to the MRF from all over the Roaring Fork Valley, and beyond. The only other comparable facility in western Colorado is in Grand Junction. On average, almost 3,000,000 pounds of mixed recyclable containers (plastic, glass and metal), 2.5 million pounds of newspaper, magazines and office paper, and almost a one million pounds of corrugated cardboard are processed in the MRF. Corrugated cardboard, brown (amber) glass and aluminum are the most valuable commodities at the present time.

Rio Grand Recycling Center - The Rio Grande Recycling Center, located in Rio Grand Park in Aspen, provides a convenient location for citizens and businesses to drop off recyclable materials without traveling downvalley to the Solid Waste Center. We remove, on average, 100 cubic yards of loose corrugated cardboard, 100 cubic yards of mixed recyclable containers and 150 cubic yards of paper each week. The land is owned by the City of Aspen, and discussions have occurred from time to time about relocating the facility. A convenient dropoff site is essential to the continued success of our recycling program.

Recycling Collection Route - We provide free collection service to over twenty public locations in Pitkin County, including all area schools and post offices, affordable housing complexes and several county offices. We do not provide this service to individual residences or businesses.

Sanitary Landfill - The Pitkin County Sanitary Landfill provides a disposal site for wastes that cannot be recycled or composted. About 150,000 cubic yards of waste is buried in the landfill each year. A proposal to determine the ultimate height and final contours (and the life span) has been drafted for review by a Citizens Task Force, and will be included in the Master Plan.

Scrap Metal Recycling - About 150 tons of scrap metal is diverted from the landfill each year, but declining market value decreased the revenue received from the program to virtually nil.

Use-It-Again Lot - A unique feature of the SWC is our Use-It-Again Lot. Members of the public are directed by our gate staff to this lot if the items they bring for disposal are re-useable. Furniture, bicycles, ski equipment, building materials such as doors, windows and high quality lumber, hot tubs, office furniture, books and many miscellaneous items are recovered and landfill space is conserved by this activity.

Aggregate Recovery Operation - Our landfill contractor operates an aggregate recovery program, producing topsoil, potting soil and some rock products.

Public Education - We sponsor tours of our recycling, composting and landfill operations for area schools and our Recycling Guidelines were distributed to every student at Pitkin County schools on Earth Day. Additionally, we conduct seminars for the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, the Aspen Institute, Windstar and other environmental organizations. We participate in Valley Resource Management, a non-profit organization of local governments, businesses and citizens in the Roaring Fork Valley. VRM meets every month to discuss solid waste management issues and coordinate programs