Do the ROT Thing

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January 30, 2026 by Bruce McDonald

Do the ROT Thing

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With all that’s going on in the world, all the rotten things and good things overwhelming our news receptors, it’s reassuring to know that some rotten stuff can make the world a better place. We’re talking composting. If you are doing your own backyard composting, good for you! We’re told it’s not too hard, and it’s rewarding, and we all know it’s good for the environment. It does, though, require a level of attention bordering on dedication. For lots of us who want to just have someone else do it for us, though, there’s something we want to tell you about dimes.

This past Saturday about 40 Lakewood residents attended a presentation about the new Lakewood composting program in cooperation with Compost Colorado, a nonprofit corporation. You might guess what they do – OK, time’s up! Yes, compost. Lakewood Sustainability Manager Katie McKain introduced the topic by telling us that 25% of landfill content is food. Wasted, useless food. To address that waste, minimizing the damage it does, Lakewood decide to put those dimes to work, the ones we paid (or maybe some still pay) for grocery bags. They are being put to work to help make the earth more productive and the air cleaner. Maybe not all at once, but every step forward is a step for good. Lakewood is using the money to help pay for a composting service to take our food scraps and let them rot, turning them into compost with moisture and aeration and the right amount of mixing and care, into rich, fertile soil for gardens and yards.

Compost Colorado (CoCo) runs a home pickup service and drop-off bins for those who subscribe to the service so that the wasted food can be turned to a good use. They take food scraps and other compostables and do magic on them. The normal charge for the dropoff service is $19 monthly, but to get established in Lakewood the City made a deal for $10 a month for Lakewood residents. But wait! There’s more! The City of Lakewood will pay half of the $10 fee, to provide us with a great opportunity – access to the dropoff service for $5 a month.

Compost Colorado Executive Director Noah Kaplan has a passion for the environment that comes out of love for clean air and healthy living, and is based on modern applications of traditional wisdom of generations living close to the land, wasting nothing. The conditions of a landfill are not natural; without oxygen methane is released, harming the atmosphere. In a proper composting environment, the decomposition process enriches soil and sequesters carbon. Instead of making a problem worse, the right action (The ROT action) makes if better. According to Kaplan, “The material cooks itself with biology.” Temperatures in the pile at the heart of the composting process reach up to 180°. That breaks down toxic materials, allowing microbes to thrive and reproduce, happily eating up bad stuff, raising their microbe families and engaging in microbial society, living happy lives making ugly stuff neat and clean. The healthy conditions they make for themselves transfer easily back to gardens and lawns; with good use of compost and mulch you can water your garden or yard half as often, and all trees and plants love the stuff. Healthier trees and plants can relieve heat stress in urban and suburban settings, where temperatures in concrete-heavy areas can be as high as 15° higher on average than surrounding areas. Every green leaf helps.

A circular economy focuses on reusing materials instead of throwing them away and ensuring that even byproducts are put to good use. When you choose to compost and help produce soil instead of sending food scraps to the landfill you’re participating in a circular economy. How cool is that?! – Compost Colorado

Photo from compost-colorado.com

Compost Colorado will accept all sorts of compostable materials, including BPI or CMA certified plastic alternatives. Greasy napkins, bones, meat scraps, seeds… just about anything organic. For yard waste, anyone can get them to pick it up (not free but they provide the service). In the spring, members can get the finished compost.

This is a big step for environmental action in Lakewood. With the City paying part of the fee for you, you can get the dropoff service for $5 a month. That subscription fee gets you a 2 1/2 gallon bucket and access to CoCo’s locked collection containers . There are 9 in Lakewood, very convenient.. The nearest ones to us in Southern Gables are at Carmody Rec Center on Kipling St. and Mile Hi Church at Garrison & Alameda.

Learning more: If you want easy way to live a bit more sustainably, this is it! It’s a small change that makes a huge difference for our local environment.

You can also snag a FREE 2 1/2 gallon compost caddy at CoCo’s upcoming workshops (while they last!). Registration is free. You can sign up here for the free workshops. (Registration is optional, just to give the organizers a rough idea of what attendance to expect. If you don’t sign up and still want to go, just go.)
🗓️ Feb 5, 5:30 pm @ Green Mountain High
🗓️ Feb 11, 12:00 @ Virtual (sign up to get Zoom link)
🗓️ Feb 18, 5:30 @ Mile High Church

All of the information you need to know about the Lakewood program, and how to sign up and get started, is here: Lakewood Food Scrap Drop Off Program. With the program sponsorship provided by the City of Lakewood, it’s never been easier to…