Colorado Communities Are Driving Real Progress on Recycling and Composting
This America Recycles Day, we’re celebrating local communities and champions proving that everyday action can move us toward a truly circular and sustainable future.
Eco-Cycle and CoPIRG Foundation just released the 9th annual State of Recycling and Composting in Colorado report, and our findings show clear momentum. From Denver to Aspen to Longmont and Boulder, local leadership, strong policies, and community commitment are helping Colorado shift away from the old “take, make, waste” system to a circular future based on the wise use of valuable resources.
What’s driving progress?
The State of Recycling and Composting in Colorado report highlights a number of leading cities and businesses that have seen significant improvements in waste diversion over the last year as they build programs and implement policies that drive waste reduction and diversion, including:
- Longmont nearly doubled business and multifamily recycling and composting—from 35% to 59%—after implementing its Universal Recycling Ordinance.
- Aspen’s Organic Waste Ordinance led to a 350% surge in food scraps being composted and returned to replenish local soils.
- Denver expanded residential compost collections citywide to 75,000 homes, increasing organics diversion by 55%.
- Boulder’s deconstruction ordinance has diverted more than 105,000 tons of reusable materials since 2020, keeping lumber, concrete, and metals out of landfills.
- A small business in Commerce City—Perks Deconstruction—recovered over 1 million pounds of building materials for reuse and recycling in 2024 alone, demonstrating the potential of the growing reuse economy to provide local jobs and economic activity.
- Statewide, Colorado increased diversion of woody material—including yard trimmings, branches and logs from wildfire mitigation efforts, pallets, and clean lumber—by 50% in just one year.
Looking Ahead
Even bigger changes are coming in 2026, when the state begins to implement a Producer Responsibility program, which will ensure that the largest companies making everyday products that Coloradans buy will help pay for the recycling of the boxes, cans, bottles, and paper that those products come in. When fully implemented over the next few years, the program will:
- Provide free, convenient recycling access for every Coloradan—no matter where you live.
- Expand recycling services to 500,000 more households.
- Recycle over 400,000 tons of packaging annually, more than twice what we recycle today.
- Ease the burden on communities and residents by requiring the companies that make packaging to pay for Colorado’s recycling system.
Progress Happens Community by Community
Across Colorado, communities, businesses, and local leaders are demonstrating that Zero Waste strategies can lead to big jumps in recycling, composting, and reuse. Together, we’re taking collective action to build systems that make sense, and lay the foundation for a truly circular system in Colorado.You can read the full State of Recycling and Composting in Colorado report at ecocycle.org/SORC.
