County and City to split costs for Compost Facility Expansion and Rate Assessment

Following the Compost Facility Expansion and Rate Assessment Contract approval, the commissioners approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Mesa County and the City of Grand Junction, in which each entity will pay 50% of the $139,185 Rate Assessment to evaluate the feasibility of expanding the Mesa County Organic Materials Composting Facility to widen its range of compostable items. 

Mesa County Solid Waste Management operates the Organic Materials Composting Facility, composting approximately 60,000 cubic yards of yard waste, culled fruit, and manure annually from Mesa County residents and businesses. The facility could compost other organic wastes, such as biosolids and food waste, but it would require a substantial infrastructure investment. 

The community has expressed a desire to compost feedstocks, such as food waste and biosolids, at the Mesa County Composting Facility, as the closest facility with these capabilities is 45 miles away. 

In 2022 and 2023, the City of Grand Junction operated a food waste and biosolids composting program with the assistance of Mesa County Solid Waste Management and a third-party composter. The program's success has demonstrated the wish to develop the Organic Materials Composting Facility to process biosolids and food waste. 

The assessment will help inform Solid Waste Management’s decision on whether or not to expand its Organic Materials Composting Facility and invest in its infrastructure through a business-case evaluation of the existing composting program and expansion options. The City of Grand Junction has agreed to pay 50% of the assessment because the expansion would offer them a local facility capable of composting biosolids and food waste. 

For more information, please view the supporting documentation.