♻️ How to be a greener Denverite
BY PEYTON GARCIA | @CITYCASTDENVER
♻️🗑️ RECYCLING AND COMPOSTING IN THE CITY
Last Friday, in honor of Earth Day, the City Cast Denver crew shared some climate wins and fails (you can listen to the episode here). One of the biggest Denver climate fails we agreed on was that it’s not easy to compost and recycle in the city!
We wondered: Why is Denver SO far behind other cities when it comes to composting and recycling? Why don’t apartment buildings offer recycling and composting services? Are there city services we aren’t taking advantage of??
Well, lucky for us, YOU all had some tips and tricks for living greener in the city. Check it out:
♻️ If you’re new to recycling and composting, it can be intimidating. Listener David P. has a few simple suggestions for getting started:
- Break down boxes to make room in your bin. (I personally break down everything from big package boxes to cereal boxes — it really does make a difference!)
- Local electronic retailers, like Best Buy and Staples, accept things like old tvs, laptops, printers, etc. so they don’t end up in the landfill.
- Consider refilling your cleaning supplies and other household products, instead of buying new bottles every time you run out. David suggests Off the Bottle refill shop or Homefill Co.
♻️ Listener William D. says the Denver Trash & Recycling app is a serious game-changer: “I had been relying on reminders and calendar appointments in my phone before this came along, and always had to look up when the next large item pickup would be. Then they made this app… They’ve also got a sorting game… I’ve made my kids play it to become better rubbish sorters.” Check it out here.
♻️ Listener Evan O. helpfully pointed us to some of the paid composting services available in the city:
- Denver Compost Collective provides buckets that you can fill with paper and food waste to be collected weekly and distributed to nearby farms. Cost ranges from $5 to $9 per week depending on bucket size.
- Scraps offers a similar bin-pickup service model for $28 per month, and serves Denver proper as well as nearby communities. Scraps also offers composting for restaurants and office buildings.
- 💡 Pro tip: Listener Devin B. uses Scraps and suggests “keeping the compost in the freezer until the weekly pickup. It’s easy. It also means that your landfill trash bin doesn’t smell because all of the smelly stuff is in the freezer.”
♻️ For the DIYers out there, listener Nik A. says a worm compost bin is easy to make, helps divert food waste, and can be tucked away under your kitchen sink — here’s how to do it. Nik says: “As the buckets get established, they’re a good source of rich potting soil. Also, nutrient rich water falls to the bottom bucket that you can use to water the plants in your home.”
♻️ For people who just moved or are planning to move, listener Megan G. recommends listing all your packing materials (cardboard boxes, bubble wrap, styrofoam) for free on Facebook marketplace, NextDoor, or another neighborhood forum. (I actually did this when I moved last summer, and my stuff was snatched up immediately!) Megan says: “Moving is expensive!! It’s one less cost for someone else, very easy to do, and the boxes are reused by another mover.”
♻️ Lastly, listener Tom M. recommends anyone who’s interested in sustainability to check out the work being done at Colorado State University. (That’s my alma mater – go Rams!) Tom says: “CSU is doing incredible things and making great strides toward sustainability… They deserve some recognition in my opinion.”
👏👏 A huge thank you to everyone who wrote in!
CHASE TAG 🏃
“I don’t know what it was, I just needed something to focus on, maybe because things were really intense during 2020, but I just nerded out on this. I saw it as a chess game.” — Amos Rendao, APEX co-founder, coach, and player
Denver Athletes Dominate a New Global Sport: Professional Tag
You know the movie “Dodgeball”? The one where Vince Vaughn saves his neighborhood gym by bringing together a team of misfits to win a quirky adult version of a kids game? Over the past few years, the plot of “Dodgeball” has been playing out here in Denver, but centers on a parkour gym called APEX and a scrappy group of Coloradans. The APEX team is now two-time national champions at World Chase Tag, a relatively new sport that exploded in popularity during the pandemic, with tournaments airing on NBC and ESPN.
The APEX squad is now in training for the tag world championships in May. So earlier this week, City Cast Denver Host Bree Davies visited their backyard practice arena to meet some of the players and watch them in action.
The rules of chase tag are simple — “1 chaser, 1 evader, 20 Seconds, don’t get caught!” — but seeing the sport in action is something else entirely. Check out APEX’s latest national championship match from last June here.
MORE NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW
🦁 Don’t worry about the zoo: The Denver Zoo gave Denverites on social media a heads up that it will be closed today for an emergency preparedness drill. “If you see emergency response vehicles on or around the Zoo during this time or notice potentially distressing sights or sounds, please know this is an exercise situation,” a Facebook post explains. The lions and tigers and bears are A-OK! [Denver Zoo]
🌊 The great Berkeley flood: A block in north Denver’s Berkeley neighborhood was submerged under roughly three feet of water on Sunday when a 100-year-old water main broke. The flooding was fast and furious, damaging cars and homes. Denver Water officials said they’d hoped to have water restored to the area by yesterday evening, but a timeline for repairs — including to a massive sinkhole in the road — is still TBD. [CBS4]
🗳️Jolon Clark bids goodbye to his council days: Denver city council member Jolon Clark announced he will not be running for re-election next year. Clarks represents parts of southwest Denver in District 7. He has served on council for eight years and was president from 2018 to 2020. As for why he’s leaving, Clark simply said: “I think it’s just time.” [Denverite]
- 🤔 Hot goss: Next year’s city council and mayoral races are shaping up to be spicy. The City Cast Denver team traded politico gossip and speculation with knower-of-all-things-Denver, Westword founder and editor Patty Calhoun in this recent City Cast Denver episode.
🚿 New laundry and shower services for Denver’s unhoused: This Thursday at 11a.m., nonprofit Bayaud Enterprises will unveil a mobile laundry and shower trailer serving Denver adults and children experiencing homelessness. The trailer will be located in the parking lot of Bayaud’s Denver offices at 333 W. Bayaud Avenue. Bayaud is an organization focused on “removing barriers to self-sufficiency.” [Bayaud]
THIS WEEK’S THINGS TO DO
🧠 TONIGHT: Understanding the Russia-Ukraine conflict
This Active Minds lecture taking place at the Tattered Cover on Colfax will explore the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine. Admission is free. The event runs from 5 to 6 p.m.
🎛️ THURSDAY: Learn from Chuck Morris
At this Mile High Young Professionals event, attendees will hear from Chuck Morris, former president and CEO of AEG Presents Rocky Mountains. Morris discusses the ins and outs of the music industry and his career as a promoter and talent manager. For non-members of MHYP, tickets are $20. The event runs from 6 to 8 p.m.
🍽️ THURSDAY: Give back by dining out
For one day only, restaurants across the metro area are supporting Project Angel Heart’s annual dining fundraiser. For every meal purchased at participating restaurants, 25% of profits will go toward serving medically tailored meals for Coloradans living with HIV/AIDS.