Earth Protect Blog

By Annie Mehl

Boulder Daily Camera

Boulder recently began a new subscription-based “Green Bag Giveaway” program to provide businesses with a free supply of compostable garbage bin liners each month for a year.

The city recognized the added expense compostable bags can pose for businesses and began the giveaway in hopes of alleviating some of the costs, according to a city news release. The program is funded through a 10-cent disposable bag fee levied on disposable plastic and paper checkout bags at all grocery stores in Boulder.

Minimizing plastics in Boulder’s waste stream is a component of its zerowaste vision, the release states. In 2015, the city enacted a Universal Zero Waste ordinance to expand recycling and composting services to all Boulder residents, employees and visitors, which requires all businesses to separate recycling and compostable materials from trash by providing properly placed containers and signage to facilitate collection.

Businesses interested in the program can complete a Zero Waste Reporting Form on the city’s website. Once the application has been approved, business owners are able to choose two cases of compostable bag liners to be delivered to them each month free of charge for a year.

“Composting plays such an important role in the achievement of our city’s zero waste goals,” Sandy Briggs, Boulder’s sustainability coordinator, stated in the release. “Through this subscription-based program, we’re really trying to show support for our local businesses by removing some of the associated cost barriers and automating elements of the composting process for them.”