Longmont has a solution for diverting waste to the proper place

Need to know how to get rid of a box spring? Can’t remember which week is recycling pick-up? Longmont has an app for that. Longmont has brought waste services into the digital age, with the Waste Services mobile app and Waste Wizard website.

The Waste Services app is free to download, and residents can enter their address to bring up a recurring calendar of trash, recycling and compost pickup. The calendar takes into account holidays and other schedule changes to make remembering to put the bins on the curb a little easier. 

The app also has a direct portal to the Waste Wizard, which allows residents to quickly search for appropriate disposal methods for any object.

According to data provided by Longmont’s Solid Waste Manager Charles Kamenides, the Waste Wizard has processed more than 100,000 material searches across 67,106 user sessions. The top 10 search terms are trash, styrofoam, mattress, television, furniture, microwave, refrigerator, scrap metal and plastic bag. Kamenides said that 2,875 residents have installed the mobile app and created more than 80,000 user sessions to date.

“We are not able to obtain a direct metric illustrating the relationship between material searches on the app and diversion actions, but the data on the materials searched by app users illustrates residents taking the time to learn about and know the appropriate disposal method for different kinds of waste materials,” Kamenides said.

As Longmont’s population grows, and as the city develops new programs, there is a notable shift in waste diversion metrics. Trash, in 2017, was measured at 28,284 tons, with another 9,782 tons of recycling. In 2020, trash was down to 25,695 tons and recycling increased to 11,429 tons. 

“As you can see in the data chart below, there are increases in certain areas and reductions in others,” Kanemides said. “Recycling was the most impactful increase for us. We attribute this increase in recycled materials to the increase in online purchasing by Longmont residents during the pandemic. The curbside composting program has grown as well, resulting in more waste volumes collected.”

Longmont began a curbside compost program in 2017. The first year, the city collected 140 tons of compostable waste. As of 2020, that number went up to 2,477 tons.

“All single-family residential units are eligible to subscribe for the curbside composting service,” Kanemides said. “We are currently at 22% participation and that continues to slowly increase. Our goal, set at the time of the program’s launch, is 25%, so we are rapidly approaching it.”

Longmont passed a Zero Waste resolution in October 2008, with the goal of generating less waste as a community, and diverting as much waste as possible away from landfills. Longmont also formally adopted a sustainability action plan in 2016 in partnership with municipal and county organizations to address waste management, energy efficiency, water, waste and more, to promote economic, environmental and social health in the community.  The Waste Wizard and the waste services app are part of Longmont’s continued actions toward a cleaner, sustainable city.