When it comes to recycling, most policy is set at the state level — but not all of it. When city ordinances, state law and a governor’s priorities all interact, it can be a recipe for both significant change and serious complexity.
Colorado, and Denver, provide one such example. At the state level, industry stakeholders have been grappling with implementing extended producer responsibility for packaging and paper, which passed in the spring of 2022 and will start to roll out in 2026.
The 200-plus page plan for implementation of EPR in Colorado would increase overall recycling rates from an estimated 25% in baseline year 2022 to 41% in 2030 and 55% in 2035.
That law affects recycling systems across the state — but in addition, the governor’s office released a Climate Action Plan in 2021 and in November 2022 Denver voters approved a “Waste No More” ballot initiative.
All three of these policies overlap in multiple ways, and the interactions between them can complicate an already complex situation, those involved said.
Jonathan Wachtel, deputy executive director of climate action, sustainability and resiliency for the city and county of Denver, said that the EPR program is complementary to the Waste No More (WNM) ordinance, “since once it is implemented, Colorado’s EPR program will cover the cost of recycling collection services for most of the covered entities under the WNM ordinance.”
“As a result, most of the work we have done to coordinate with the EPR program has focused on aligning implementation dates, common definitions, and other programmatic elements like covered materials lists,” he said.
The climate action plan calls for 100% net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. It sets out three “Climate Pillars”: Mitigation, adaptation and an equitable transition. One piece of the emissions reduction in the mitigation section is the recycling sector. The Colorado Solid and Hazardous Waste Commission adopted statewide municipal solid waste diversion goals of 35% by 2026 and 45% by 2036.
“The anticipated benefits from successful implementation of the WNM ordinance will have a positive impact on the state’s efforts to reduce landfill volumes and methane emissions,” Wachtel said.
Waste No More Ordinance
In November 2022, the Waste No More ballot initiative garnered just under 71% approval from voters. Wachtel said immediately upon its passage, “there were a variety of challenges identified with the ballot language.” That included undefined terms, tiered implementation dates that were no longer aligned with the proposed timeline, and a “lack of alignment with existing administrative processes.”
A 2023 Waste No More taskforce was convened to make recommendations over the course of a year on how to address the issues. Hazardous Materials And Waste Diversion Advocate for GreenLatinos Colorado Brian Loma was one of the ballot measure’s proponents and told Resource Recycling that all task force parties generally came to an agreement on the final recommendations, except for the rollout timeline of event diversion.
The final recommendations were published in the fall of 2023, and in early 2025 Denver agencies shared a draft of the proposed ordinance updates with the task force.
Loma said some of the changes to restaurant organics collection and diversion requirements upset members of the task force, especially around the new exemptions for businesses that make less than $2 million in revenue and have fewer than 25 employees. He would prefer to see a volume-based exemption, which is more common for organics, over the revenue-based exemption.
The Colorado Restaurant Association, which has a representative on the task force, supported the exemptions.Sonia Riggs, president and CEO of the association, said the group is “worried about the availability of service providers and the administrative burden and cost to Denver businesses of all sizes, who are already stretched beyond belief.”
The city report added that “mayoral priorities aim to support business growth and minimize administrative burden,” especially as since 2019, the number of restaurants in Denver has decreased by 22% while labor costs have increased by 65%.
To help compensate, the city proposed later implementation deadlines and the exemption for the smallest businesses.
According to the report, there was “general pushback against the exemption” by task force members, who preferred an extension over an exemption for smaller restaurants, “claiming that implementing organic waste collection should be relatively achievable for back-of-house operations, and should not present significant economic strain to affected entities.”
Riggs said while restaurants generally support recycling and composting, “it’s unfortunately not that simple; restaurants are also navigating minimum wage increases, Energize Denver compliance, increased utility and insurance rates, as well as inflationary pressures, higher property taxes and labor shortages.”
She added that “restaurants already produce minimal waste and are highly efficient with food usage due to space, staff and cost constraints.”
Loma said he was concerned that the exemption would mean all new businesses are exempt, and that it sets a new exemption precedent that other cities and states might follow, reducing the effectiveness of diversion mandates.
Wachtel said if passed as-is, the exemption would apply to about 16% of retail food establishments in Denver, and the process for applying for and receiving the exemptions would be finalized through the development of agency rules and regulations.
As for events, the city proposed a compliance date of April 1, 2026, for events to provide access to recycling and organic waste streams, with 2025 used as an education year, and an exemption for events smaller than 1,000 people, those with de minimis generation, those that demonstrate economic hardship or that can demonstrate a good faith effort to provide diversion services but are unable to secure a hauler.
Task force members expressed frustration with the further delay on event implementation, the report stated, and Loma said it caused organics hauler frustration and citizen confusion, because “in the citizens’ minds, it’s been passed, it’s law, it’s going to happen.”
Denver also suggested aligning Waste No More multi-family residential and non-residential buildings compliance with the EPR rollout, meaning an universal April 1, 2026 compliance date instead of phased in dates over 2025 and 2026.
The proposed changes are on the July council committee agenda, and its next step would be a full City Council vote, which includes a public hearing, Wachtel said. That would likely be in August, and the revised ordinance language currently has an implementation date of Q3 2026. He noted that the rules and regulations would be adopted via a public development process prior to the implementation date.
Interlocking issues
Wachtel said that the city and county are also looking to support the development of end markets, particularly for materials diverted from construction and demolition activities.
“This is beyond the scope of the WNM ordinance but will be critical to ensuring that we maximize the benefits of keeping these materials out of landfills,” he said. “We certainly don’t want a situation where we are requiring the diversion of C&D materials but don’t have sufficient end markets to give those materials a second life.”
Riggs said it’s important to look at interrelated policies from a wide lens.
“While the direct cost of complying with this ordinance — and EPR and other climate mandates — may seem small in isolation, the cumulative impact of overlapping regulations in Denver is very real and contributing to business closures,” she said. “Even modest new requirements can become the tipping point that make an otherwise viable small business financially unsustainable.”
Loma added that in the years since Denver voted for the diversion law, other Colorado communities have passed and implemented organics diversion requirements for all food waste producers “before Denver has managed to enforce any diversion regulations.”
