Denver is ready to launch a set of rules on Sept. 1 that cash in an overwhelming 2022 public vote in favor of mandatory apartment and commercial recycling and composting, aimed at spreading the key service to more residents and boosting Colorado鈥檚 poor waste diversion rates.
The recycling expansion requires giving residents of multifamily housing with eight or more units access to recycling for the first time, after years of city-provided services being limited to single-family residences. Advocates also see potentially big landfill diversion gains from a provision requiring construction sites to recycle 50% of their building waste.
鈥淭his is really a game changer for people living in those larger multifamily buildings,鈥� said Elizabeth Babcock, director of Denver Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resilience, in an interview. In construction and demolition, she added, 鈥渇or certain types of materials that鈥檚 a huge waste stream that was previously primarily going to the landfill. So there are a lot of elements to this ordinance that will really be a game changer for both the city and the statewide diversion rate.鈥�