A front end loader works behind the compost bid at the Longmont Recycling Center on Wednesday. Longm...

1. Mayor, Longmont eyes single-stream promise for
composting
A front end loader works behind the compost bid at the Longmont Recycling Center on Wednesday.
Longmont Mayor Dennis Coombs pulled a motion to put a curbside composting question on
November's ballot. (Cliff Grassmick / Staff Photographer)
One company's claim that it can separate out both organic and recyclable material from single
residential trash bins caused Longmont Mayor Dennis Coombs to pull the composting bin question
from going on the November ballot.

2. In March, Coombs originally requested to put the question of whether the city should have a
curbside composting service on the November ballot. Other City Council members and city staff
convinced him to alter his motion to direct staff to bring back information by June, which would be
the deadline for putting something on the ballot.
Longmont Mayor Dennis Coombs. (Lewis Geyer / Staff Photographer)
Coombs, who has since announced his re-election bid, rescinded his March motion on Tuesday,
citing "cutting edge technology" that came to his attention. The rest of the council unanimously
approved pulling composting from the ballot track.
Bob Allen, the city's operations manager for the public works and natural resources department,
said city officials have been approached by EcoHub, a Houston-based company that counts IBM's
Smarter Cities initiative among its partners.
EcoHub claims to have proprietary technology that can separate out recyclable and compostable
material from a single-stream trash bin system, diverting more than 95 percent of waste from the
landfill.
Allen said this proposal was definitely in its infancy and would require more discussion within the
city and with the county and neighboring communities.
That idea is markedly different from curbside composting, which Boulder Lafayette and Louisville
offer. City staff originally ballparked that curbside composting in Longmont might cost as much as
$6 more per month on trash fees to cover extra trucks, bins and employees.
The theoretical rate increase drew ire from some Longmont residents and council members fielded
angry emails and public comments for months. In March, Coombs cited the feedback he'd received
on the rates as a primary reason he wanted to put the question to a vote.
Toby Schunck, a Longmont resident who emailed the mayor in March advocating for the ballot

3. measure said he was sad to learn of Coombs' reversal and hoped curbside composting would still
one day happen in Longmont.
"Composting, unless you're doing it on your own in your backyard, is really difficult," Schunck said.
"I understand that the mayor lives in a political reality, and our town is a very diverse town and
some people are in an economically challenging situation and my heart goes out to them. But we are
currently living our lives as if many other planets are within easy walking distance and I do not
presently know of any."
David Fridland, a campaign coordinator for the EcoCycle organization based out of Boulder and the
interim board president for Sustainable Revolution Longmont, said he was unsure about the EcoHub
proposal.
"EcoHub and IBM's http://bokashibran.co.za/ ideas right now are just concepts and we need to make
sure we have information and data and that's exactly what city staff is doing right now," Fridland
said. "EcoCycle supports making good decisions and we view that as having curbside composting
available like the rest of our neighbors."
Fridland and others said they thought taking
the measure off the ballot-track was a good
decision.
"When it comes to city services and rates
dealing with city services, it's typically not
something that goes to the ballot," Fridland
said. "There's a lot of nuance with these types
of decisions and making educated decisions
based on good information is what we trust
(City Council members) with."
Carol Matheis-Kraft, a Longmont resident who
emailed Coombs in March about the ballot measure, agreed with Fridland.
"It's not just the November ballot, I don't want to see it on any ballot," Matheis-Kraft said. "A
composting system is best figured out by city staff and should integrate a pay-as-you-throw system."
Advocates of pay-as-you-throw waste systems want trash fees directly related to the amount of trash
a household generates, similar to water rates.
Karen Antonacci: 303-684-5226, antonaccik@times-call.com or twitter.com/ktonacci
http://www.timescall.com/longmont-local-news/ci_28293215/mayor-longmont-eyes-single-stream-pro
mise-composting