What can municipalities do now that Producer Responsibility has started?

As implementation of Colorado’s Producer Responsibility program for packaging moves forward, communities are beginning to receive reimbursements for recycling services (if the municipality runs their own program or contracts with a hauler), as well as education and outreach. 

Municipalities can take additional action to ensure their residents benefit from the program, including:

 1. Guaranteeing recycling access for all residents. Under Producer Responsibility, municipalities and haulers are not required to participate in the program. For residents to receive recycling service at no cost, the municipality (if it operates or contracts for recycling services) or the hauler (in an open-market system) will need to contract with the Producer Responsibility Organization, Circular Action Alliance (CAA). 

 To ensure residents receive this service, the municipality can do one or more of the following: 

• Require haulers to provide free recycling (e.g., Brighton, Lakewood)
• Self-haul their recycling (e.g., Thornton, Denver, Durango, Loveland, Longmont) 
• Change from an open-market system to an organized hauling contract (e.g., Broomfield, Arvada) 
• Adopt a Universal Recycling Ordinance (URO), which requires multifamily housing complexes to provide residents with recycling services (e.g., Longmont, Lafayette, Boulder, Denver). Most UROs also require other commercial properties to have recycling, and some also have requirements around compost service 

All of these approaches enable municipalities to collect recycling data that can help inform future materials management policies and programs.

 2. Requiring volume-based pricing. Commonly referred to as “Pay-As-You-Throw” (PAYT) volume-based pricing charges customers for trash services based on the size of the trash cart (e.g., Aspen, Arvada, Denver, Breckenridge). Recycling, and sometimes compost services, are provided at no additional charge. This pricing structure incentivizes residents to recycle and compost more, because their cost is solely based on the amount of material they send to the landfill. Paired with Producer Responsibility, volume-based pricing encourages residents to participate with the additional economic incentive. Education and outreach are essential to the success of this approach, helping residents recycle correctly and minimize contamination. 

3. Requiring equal space for recycling and trash. Equal space ordinances and building codes require new and remodeled multifamily and commercial buildings to have equal space for recycling and trash collection (e.g., chutes, dumpster enclosures, collection bins) to provide recycling access to residents and tenants (e.g., Aspen, Broomfield, Westminster).  

These steps will help residents take advantage of the free recycling service offered through the state’s Producer Responsibility program.