The Community Market Is Actively Green with Walking Mountains

At The Community Market (TCM), nourishing our neighbors and caring for the land go hand in hand. Through our partnership with Walking Mountains, we are proud to be part of the Actively Green network—demonstrating that food access, environmental stewardship, and community well-being are deeply connected.

The Community Market’s mission is rooted in caring for people and place. Our work is guided by three core pillars: Healthy People, Strong Communities, and Environmental Sustainability. Every day, we provide free, healthy food to local families while preventing good food from being wasted. In doing so, we reduce our community’s carbon footprint and create a more resilient local food system.

Turning Food Rescue into Community Care

Food waste is one of the most urgent and overlooked environmental challenges of our time. TCM tackles this issue head-on through food recovery—collecting fresh, quality food from local grocers, farmers, and restaurants that would otherwise go to waste and redistributing it to neighbors who need it most.

Each year, nearly 600,000 pounds of food were rescued and redirected to families throughout Eagle County. That means less food in landfills, fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and more nourishment on local tables.

Our approach honors the full lifecycle of food:

• First, we feed people. They receive nutritious food with dignity and choice.
• Next, we feed animals. Food that is no longer fit for people supports local farmers’ livestock.
• Finally, we compost. What remains is returned to the earth, enriching Eagle County’s soil for the future.

This system keeps food out of landfills and builds a healthier environment for everyone.

Reducing Waste Beyond Food

Environmental sustainability is woven into every layer of our operations. When plastic packaging does its job protecting food in transit, we make sure it’s recycled responsibly. In partnership with Trex, we’ve diverted 11,119 pounds of plastic film from landfills, transforming it into composite decking materials. We also recycle 14,872 pounds of cardboard and other materials, ensuring less waste and more reuse across our community.

In the last year alone, over 81,000 pounds of food scraps were composted through The Community Market, helping restore soil health and reduce environmental impact.

Meeting Need While Protecting Our Future

Today, The Community Market serves more than 4,000 customers each week through in-store and mobile markets across Eagle County.

Our model removes stigma from food access while actively educating neighbors about sustainability and the environmental impact of our food systems. Every family we serve, every pound we rescue, and every bag we recycle is part of a larger movement toward a healthier, more just valley.

Why It Matters

One-third of all food produced globally—about 1.3 billion tons each year—is lost or wasted. At Eagle Valley Community Foundation and The Community Market, we refuse to let that be the norm here. Through food rescue, composting, recycling, and community education, we are leading locally where change matters most.

Being Actively Green is not a label. It’s a promise—to our neighbors, our partners, and the land we love—that we will continue to show up, innovate, and care deeply for the community we call home.