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Creating the
cycle
Compost business looks to grow outside Capitol Hill BY KAILYN LAMB KLAMB@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
For the last two years Shawn Hendrickson has been slowly, but deliberately building his compost business. What started as an effort among him and some neighbors to compost their food waste has grown into a 300-person network that helps local farms and businesses. Now, Hendrickson is looking forward to his next steps. Denver Compost Collective is, at its core, a business where people can send their food waste to be composted. But to Hendrickson, it’s more than that. He hand picks the farms he works with to ensure they have missions in line with food justice and green business practices. The environmental benefits are a large part of the business as well. By taking 300 people’s food waste, Hendrickson and Denver Compost Collective are diverting a lot of trash away from landfills. But he also keeps economics in mind, making sure his employees make livable wages. “It becomes a way for us at a community level to subsidize, not only our local food system, but social justice work,” Hendrickson said. Sven Ceelan, a driver with Denver Compost Collective, added that it’s a cycle. The compost business wants to help support local farms that may not be as well-funded. As land grows more expensive, Ceelan said he’s seen community farms close in favor of development. “The more that we can support those farms, there’s an economic benefit,” Ceelan said. Capitol Hill was the logical place to start Denver Compost Collective because many of the apartment buildings aren’t included in the city’s services. Denver services only include single-family households and apartment buildings with seven units or
Cailin Osborne takes a break from digging a trench for a small fence at the Majestic View location for Front Line Farming. In addition to working on the farms with the company, Osborne helps run their free grocery program. KAILYN LAMB less. Denver Compost Collective helps to fill in some of those gaps. The city charges $29.95 every three months for compost. The business also is transparent about where the compost goes and letting customers see the impact they make, Ceelan said.
ROOTED IN COMMUNITY The idea for Denver Compost Collective came from a two-year, student-led project at the Auraria campus, said Shawn Hendrickson, the founder, said. He and classmates worked to get compost collection at the Tivoli building, which has several restaurants and fast-food options for students. “It just took a whole lot of work,” Hendrickson
SEE GREEN, P9
said, “but it was a good learning experience having it be all students.” Hendrickson then moved on to composting with his neighbors in his backyard. “The idea was to grow it into a neighborhoodbased compost system” he said.
THE BOTTOM LINE PERIODICAL
“The Nuggets were a very great team last season. Very excited to be a part of the team.” Bol Bol, 7-foot-2 newcomer to the Denver Nuggets | Page 13 INSIDE
VOICES: PAGE 8 | LIFE: PAGE 10 | CALENDAR: PAGE 5 | SPORTS: PAGE 13 VOLUME 92 | ISSUE 34