{"id":37021,"date":"2022-12-01T02:43:16","date_gmt":"2022-12-01T09:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/compost-facility-at-montezuma-county-landfill-gets-upgrade\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:35:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:35:22","slug":"compost-facility-at-montezuma-county-landfill-gets-upgrade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/compost-facility-at-montezuma-county-landfill-gets-upgrade\/","title":{"rendered":"Compost facility at Montezuma County landfill gets upgrade"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Montezuma
Montezuma County Landfill Manager Mell Jarmon stands with a new compost turner purchased thanks to a $375,000 grant from the Colorado Department of Health and Environment. (Courtesy Jim Mimiaga)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The compost program at the Montezuma County landfill is growing, and has upgraded its operation with new equipment.<\/p>\n

In October, the landfill purchased a compost turner for $409,000 to improve operation efficiency and the product, said manager Mel Jarmon.<\/p>\n

A 2022 Backhus A58 Windrow Turner was funded by a $379,000 grant from the Recycling Resources Economic Opportunity Program of the Colorado Department of Health and Environment.<\/p>\n

The landfill contributed $30,000 toward the machine as part of the grant agreement.<\/p>\n

While traveling on two tracks, the unit straddles a row of curing compost while a rotor mixes the combination of organic matter and biosolids.<\/p>\n

\"The
The commercial composting operation at the Montezuma County landfill is expanding. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cBefore we had to do all the mixing with a front-end loader, which takes a lot more time,\u201d Jarmon said. \u201cUsing this mixes it more evenly and takes a fraction of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The unit has a capacity to turn up to 5,200 cubic yards of compost material per hour.<\/p>\n

It operates in addition to a high-capacity compost screener the landfill purchased in 2020 and was funded by a $127,000 grant from the CDPHE.<\/p>\n

To make compost, the landfill combines wood chips, green yard wastes and biosolid waste provided by the Cortez Sanitation District.<\/p>\n

The piles go through a curing process that involves regular mixing, water application and temperature checks over a period of months.<\/p>\n

Composting works to speed the natural decay of organic material. The end product of the concentrated decomposition process is a nutrient-rich soil used for crops, lawns and trees.<\/p>\n

CDPHE does not recommend biosolids compost for use on vegetable gardens.<\/p>\n

Locally the compost is popular product for marijuana farms, flower gardens, lawns and trees, Jarmon said. It is sold at an affordable price of $30 per cubic yard, and sales have steadily increased.<\/p>\n

The landfill has sold 385.5 cubic yards in 2022, up from 270 cubic yards in 2021, an increase of 43%.<\/p>\n

In 2020, the landfill sold 220 cubic yards, up from 166 cubic yards in 2019.<\/p>\n

Wood chips from the massive piles at the Ironwood Mill outside Dolores are being used for the landfill\u2019s composting operation and are being stockpiled on site.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t use all that they have. The chips work well for this,\u201d Jarmon said, and will help increase how much compost can be produced.<\/p>\n

Landfill officials plan to move the composting operation onto a nearby 11-acre site being prepped on the west side of the landfill.<\/p>\n

The goal is to produce two types of compost, one that uses food wastes and another that uses the biosolids.<\/p>\n

Composts that use food waste can be safely used on vegetable gardens, Jarmon said. He plans to work with Montezuma-Cortez School District Re-1 to recycle food wastes from the cafeterias for use at the new composting facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecycling food waste into compost is practical. It creates a product in demand and saves room in the landfill,\u201d Jarmon said.<\/p>\n

Permitting for the new compost facility is pending permit approval by the CPPHE and is expected to open in 2023.<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

equipment purchased; sales are up and expanded facility planned <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37022,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,60,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-37021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37021"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83530,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37021\/revisions\/83530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37021"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=37021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}