DUG’s Community Composter Training Program is deepening its roots for 2025, a direction that intentionally aligns with and supports our pillars of food, climate, and community.
The Community Composter Training Program, formerly the Master Composter Training Program, has been a DUG staple for 20 years. This cohort-based ‘train – the – trainer’ model was a way for program participants to educate themselves and community members about a wide variety of ways to live more sustainably upon the earth. In addition to our volunteers providing education about backyard composting and vermicomposting (composting with ‘red wiggler’ worms), they supported DOTI’s efforts to ‘reframe’ the waste stream by encouraging homeowners to sign up for a green ‘compost cart’ and learn optimal ways to participate in recycling and trash collection services.
The program’s leads, “Jungle” Judy Elliot and Kristi Hatakka, ensured participants were engaged and had plenty of opportunities to connect with the community. Their expertise in organic gardening and composting expanded trainings and provided a more holistic approach to waste diversion.
Additionally, we have been fortunate to have the support of the Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) over the years to reduce barriers to access for the program. Their partnership extended beyond financial support and included site visits and field trips to expand our participants’ awareness of existing Denver infrastructure to support waste diversion through recycling, composting, and more.
Looking Ahead
In 2025, our Community Composters will center upon deepening relationships, bringing together a group of previously trained, passionate volunteers who will work as a team. The ‘Compost Team’, will focus upon providing intensive, season-wide education sessions in community gardens and food forests, working directly with gardeners who want to learn the connection between creating healthy soil, for healthy food, for healthy people. Our practical,‘hands – on’ approach will take its cues from the community, as we reformat and refine our teaching, deeply listening to the collective voices and wisdom inherent in diverse cultural traditions.
Our ‘Team’ will also directly work with and alongside of DOTI as they more fully implement the ‘rollout’ of the green Compost Cart. Compost Team members will work as ambassadors for DOTI’s program, explaining how to sign up for a compost cart and ‘best practices’ to prevent contamination. We aim to make composting an everyday household word, simplifying the process and expanding ways to understand that a ‘greener earth’ depends upon each of us, whether using a compost cart, practicing home composting, or learning ways to engage our younger generation through worm composting.
