News and Articles

Santa Fe - The New Mexico Recycling Coalition (NMRC) is pleased to announce the 2025 New Mexico Recycling Award winners.  Santa Fe County’s Backyard Compost Program and Reunity Resources Eldorado food-waste drop off facility earned the Diversion Project of the Year and the Community Based Program of the Year respectively.

Elizabeth Houghton, Santa Fe County’s Sustainability Specialist, is driving record community interest in backyard composting. Since joining in early 2025, Elizabeth’s organizational expertise and clear communication have made it easier than ever for residents to participate in food waste diversion. The Santa Fe County Backyard Composting Program, which won “Diversion Project of the Year,” diverts food waste from landfills and educates residents on the environmental and economic benefits of composting by installing backyard compost systems for County residents.

The Santa Fe Backyard Composting Program has been actively supporting the community in food waste diversion from the Caja Del Rio Landfill since 2018. Since its inception, nearly 200 Santa Fe County residents have participated in the program. County residents living in unincorporated areas apply to the Sustainability Division for a free composting unit provided through a partnership with Reunity Resources. Typically, about 35-40 County residents are part of the program each year, but Elizabeth’s efforts to make participation easier and more accessible resulted in an unprecedented level of community interest. The County received well over 100 applications, more than twice as many as in any prior year during the shortest-ever application window. In fact, more people applied within the first 24 hours of the 2025 program launch than in the entire application window of any previous year! 

County residents that may not have the time or space to launch their own backyard compost operation have a solution along the eastern side of Santa Fe County. Reunity Resources is recognized as the Community Recycling Program of the Year for their Eldorado drop-off location at La Tienda Shopping Center.

As part of this program, participants pay a small fee to access the food-waste drop-off program, which provides subscribers within the Eldorado and the 285 corridor community an accessible composting solution and strengthens local engagement in waste reduction and environmental stewardship. For $15 per month, subscribers receive 24/7 access to the collection area, where food scraps can be deposited into carts in a secure drop-off area. The food scraps are then transported to Reunity’s Santa Fe Soil Yard for composting.

Since launching the program, Eldorado residents have shown what’s possible when neighbors come together to make change. In 2024 alone, Eldorado subscribers diverted 21,000 pounds of food waste from landfills, and across Santa Fe County, Reunity Resources diverted over 1.5 million pounds of food waste last year. Now in 2025, The Eldorado Drop-Off currently serves 71 customers. Annual diversion at the site has increased to approximately 30,000 lbs. (about 6700 gallons) which is the equivalent of 35 cubic yards of food scraps.  Eldorado residents can sign up today to start composting food scraps and be part of the solution. Learn more or subscribe here: https://www.reunityresources.com/eldorado-drop-off.html

Food waste is the second largest category of material entering U.S. landfills and the third largest source of human-caused methane emissions. When food rots in landfills, it produces methane gas (28x worse than carbon dioxide in capturing heat in the atmosphere). Composting, however, transforms food scraps into nutrient-rich compost that nourishes soils and strengthens local food systems, increasing food access in our community.

Thanks to Santa Fe County’s backyard compost program, Eldorado-area residents’ commitment to composting, and Reunity Resources, the Santa Fe area shows a commitment to composting that helps keep harmful methane out of the atmosphere and turns waste into renewal.

Sarah Pierpont, NMRC’s executive director, shared, “We chose to honor these two programs because they offer straightforward, practical solutions for Santa Fe County residents to reduce their climate impact. Composting is a powerful example of a circular economy in action, turning food scraps into valuable resources and closing the loop for our community. It’s a natural process that helps us work in harmony with the environment, promoting renewal and sustainability for future generations.”

The recycling awards were presented at the New Mexico Recycling and Solid Waste Conference that took place at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center in October of 2025.  The conference brought together nearly 200 individuals working in recycling and solid waste and representing rural and urban municipalities, counties, federal entities, universities, tribes, solid waste associations and businesses.  Topics included best practices in both recycling and solid waste management, hard to manage materials (including PFAS), source reduction efforts like extended producer responsibility, the evolving composition of recyclables and waste, safety, recycling as the local, state and federal levels, and more.

Since 2002 NMRC has recognized individuals, businesses and communities that work to reduce waste and support recycling and composting in New Mexico.

Additional 2025 New Mexico Recycling Coalition Award Winners include the following:

• E. Gifford Stack Lifetime Achievement Award - Dan Darnell, WM
• Recycler of the Year – Mary Garwood, City of Carlsbad
• Recycling Facility of the Year – Town Recycling LLC in Albuquerque
• Compost Facility/Composter of the Year – Soilutions/Dawn Dewey in Albuquerque
• Diversion Project of the Year – Elizabeth Houghton’s Santa Fe County Backyard Compost Program
• Community-Based Program of the Year - Reunity Resources Eldorado drop off facility for food waste

About Reunity Resources:

Reunity Resources was founded with the knowledge that community-scale change is necessary for continued environmental resilience. We create effective closed-loop systems that allow our community to participate in active solutions. We further these practices through outdoor education, community engagement, crafted soil amendments, and local food systems advocacy to sow seeds for broader scale participation in and replication of these principles. Reunity Resources is a tax-exempt, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, established in 2011.

About New Mexico Recycling Coalition

New Mexico Recycling Coalition is a non-profit, member-supported organization with the mission of inspiring New Mexicans to rethink, reduce, reuse and recycle.  The organization serves as a recycling advocate working with a diverse group of stakeholders, communities, businesses, schools and grassroots activists to help build sustainable and efficient recycling programs.  To learn more, visit www.recyclenewmexico.com.

• Image 1. Elizabeth Houghton of Santa Fe County receives award from Sarah Pierpont, executive director of the New Mexico Recycling Coalition
• Image 2. Trevor Ortiz of Reunity Resources receives award from Sarah Pierpont, dorado food-scraps drop off facility
• Image 3. Eldorado food-scraps drop off facility
• Image 4. Eldorado food-scrap drop off facility

###