Nestled into the foothills, with the Bridgers towering overhead, piles of grass clippings, decomposing leaves and rotting vegetables sit at the Bozeman Convenience Site, the product of the city’s new composting program.

City crews collect the organic material curbside from customers, and the processing site is run by Happy Trash Can, a local business that has been composting for years through its pick-up services. With an aeration system that gets more airflow into the piles to compost them faster, the organic matter is broken down then used by local farms, gardeners and landscapers.