The 5 Best Green Businesses/Organizations Around Summit County

In a mountain community, sustainability often comes down to what happens to everyday resources: where food goes when it is not eaten, whether furniture gets a second life, how forests withstand heavy recreation and how much material ends up in the landfill. Those choices add up. Summit County organizations are addressing conservation through recycling, composting, energy efficiency, public-land stewardship, reuse and food recovery. The Best of Summit recognizes local businesses and nonprofits putting environmental responsibility into practice while giving residents practical ways to participate.

High Country Conservation Center

High Country Conservation Center, known as HC3, approaches sustainability from several directions, with programs centered on waste reduction, energy efficiency and clean energy, water conservation and sustainable food production. Its roots stretch back to an early local recycling effort that eventually expanded to accept more than 20 types of recyclable materials and address waste streams such as electronics and wood from fire mitigation. Today, HC3 helps residents understand Summit County recycling and food-scrap programs while also working directly with businesses, restaurants, schools and HOAs. Its recycling assistance can include free bins and signage, site assessments and bilingual training. Food scraps collected locally can become High Country Compost rather than taking up landfill space. HC3 also works on building energy improvements, clean-energy initiatives, water conservation and sustainable business programs, keeping its focus on practical ways to conserve resources across the mountain community.

Friends of the Dillon Ranger District

Friends of the Dillon Ranger District turns community participation into hands-on care for Summit County’s National Forest lands. Founded in 2005 by local residents who wanted a more active role alongside the U.S. Forest Service’s Dillon Ranger District, the nonprofit now organizes more than 60 volunteer projects on the National Forest each year. Volunteers contribute thousands of hours maintaining and improving trails, removing invasive weeds, planting trees, restoring habitat and cleaning up public lands. Ranger Patrol volunteers add an educational presence on local trails, helping visitors understand responsible recreation while reporting conditions and serving as a link among the public, FDRD and the Forest Service. The organization also creates service-learning opportunities for young people ages 6 to 18 and leads educational hikes, talks and activities. Its work supports a district with hundreds of miles of trails and extensive recreation, connecting environmental stewardship with the public’s experience of Summit County’s forests.

Habitat for Humanity ReStore

Summit Habitat for Humanity ReStore gives usable household goods another destination besides the waste stream while generating support for local housing work. The Silverthorne store sells donated furniture, appliances, art, décor and other home goods, along with some new merchandise such as rugs. Donations must generally be new or gently used, clean, functional and in suitable condition for resale. Accepted items can include refrigerators, stoves, washers and dryers, microwaves, furniture, mirrors, artwork and a variety of household pieces. By recirculating those materials through the community, ReStore creates opportunities for furnishings and appliances to remain useful rather than being discarded. The environmental benefit connects directly with Habitat’s larger mission because purchases and donations help support Summit Habitat for Humanity’s work in the community. Volunteers can also participate at ReStore, adding another way for residents to support the reuse model and Habitat’s housing efforts.

CAFE Food Rescue

CAFE Food Rescue tackles two interconnected problems: edible food going to waste and community members struggling to afford enough nutritious food. The nonprofit grew from founder Diane Calvin’s recognition that Summit County had surplus food available but lacked sufficient connections to move it to people who could use it. Its mission now centers on recovering that surplus, improving food equity and reducing the environmental costs associated with disposal. In 2025 alone, CAFE Food Rescue recovered 208,085 pounds of surplus food, which it calculates as enough for more than 173,000 meals. The organization estimates that keeping that food out of the waste stream prevented 304 metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions. CAFE currently recovers about 15% of Summit County’s surplus food and has set a goal of reaching 50%, combining food access with a broader effort to conserve the water, energy and other resources already invested in producing food.

Garbage Gurus

Garbage Gurus brings waste reduction directly to homes, vacation properties and commercial locations through trash, recycling and food-scrap collection. Jeff and Mariala Brill developed the family-owned business after living in Summit County and launched the idea in 2022. Its service options include curbside pickup as well as valet collection, in which crews retrieve carts from a garage, shed or other designated location, empty them and return them. Recycling programs include single-stream collection, while food-scrap service sends organic material toward composting instead of the trash. The company also handles junk removal and cleanouts, with an emphasis on donating and recycling suitable items when possible. Service plans accommodate Summit County’s Pay-As-You-Throw requirements in applicable areas, giving customers different cart sizes and collection frequencies. By collecting recycling and compostable food scraps alongside conventional waste, Garbage Gurus makes diversion part of a household or business’s regular disposal routine.

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