Denver finally ready to expand apartment recycling, cut construction waste 4 years after public mandate 36%
By Michael Booth48%
7/16/2026, 10:08:00 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 28 faulty reasoning types, including Optimism Bias, Framing Effect, and Appeal to Authority, with Confirmation Bias as the most egregious example at 19.5% saturation with 134 hits. Analysis detected 1,358 faulty-reasoning hits from 687 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 42.8% and a BS Rank of 36% (10,647 of 16,550 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 64.30% of the article peer group.
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 composting recycling, aimed at spreading the key service to more residents and boosting Colorado’s 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.
“This is really a game changer for people living in those larger multifamily buildings,” said Elizabeth Babcock, director of Denver Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resilience, in an interview.
In construction and demolition, she added, “for certain types of materials that’s 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.”
People living in single-family homes in Denver get trash, recycling and compost picked up by the city.
But those living in large apartment buildings are often shut out, with many landlords choosing not to provide recycling or composting because of the expense or space limitations.
That quirk affects more than 100,000 people in Denver, recycling proponents said at the time of the 2022 ballot campaign.
The Waste No More measure called for mandatory recycling and composting at larger apartment buildings, restaurants, other businesses, and construction sites that generate huge volumes of waste.
It passed with more than 70% approval.
The ordinance did not come, however, with money to develop or enforce the new system, Babcock said, leading to long discussions about how it would be organized.
Businesses and landlords weighed in on how to make the rules workable across varied neighborhoods and spaces.
“It’s about time,” said Ean Tafoya, vice president of state programs for GreenLatinos and a recycling proponent who backed the 2022 effort.
“Political delays have plagued the implementation of the will of the voters.
As we were collecting signatures for the Denver Green Roof Initiative a decade ago people were asking for recycling and compost access.
We look forward to diverting more waste.”
Denver will emphasize education and communication with landlords for the first year after the rules are in place, rather than issuing fines for noncompliance.
“We are taking an education-first approach to implementation,” Babcock said.
“Our job is to make sure no one fails because they did not have the right information or support, and as long as businesses and business and building owners are working towards compliance, fines will not be our first response.”
Elements of the new rules include:
Denver is not using money from the climate change tax to pay for the new multifamily program, but it can use revenue from the 10-cent disposable grocery bag fee.
That fee will raise about $950,000 this year, the CASR office said.
The rules do not dictate whether landlords can charge extra for providing recycling and compost bins, Babcock said.
Cities and business owners will soon be able to apply for recycling funding from the producer responsibility law passed by the state legislature, which requires consumer packaging producers to charge fees on themselves to fund statewide recycling expansion.
Permitted events with 350 or more attendees must also have recycling and composting available on-site, including a specific plan for handling food scraps and food waste.
Construction recycling minimums start with building or demolition projects larger than 500 square feet, and interior remodel projects larger than 2,500 square feet.
Half of on-site debris by weight must be diverted by recycling or reuse, and that must include a minimum of three materials defined in the rules.
Tafoya said recycling fans may have to stay active in order to make sure they get recycling access under the new rules.
“A reminder,” he said, “you contact the city if your building management is failing to comply.”
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