Colorado produces record level of waste in 2017

Colorado residents produced a record 9.3 million tons of waste in 2017 while the recycling rate remained at a stagnant 12 percent, according to the second annual Colorado State of Recycling report recently released by the nonprofit Eco-Cycle and the Colorado Public Interest Research Group (CoPIRG). The Bolder, Colorado-based Eco-Cycle is one of the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit recyclers, while CoPIRG, based in Denver, is a non-profit, non-partisan, public interest advocacy group with thousands of dues members across the state.

According to the report, each Colorado resident, on average, throws away nearly eight pounds of trash per day, or more than 1.45 tons per year. That’s more than eight million tons piling into landfills every year, making it one of the most wasteful states in the country, according to the report.

The state’s recycling rate is also far behind the national average of 35 percent.

“Colorado is headed in the wrong direction— we’re producing more trash each year and not improving our recycling rate,” the study says.

Researchers say nearly 95 percent of that waste could be recycled or composted. Each year, Colorado throws away nearly $265 million worth of recyclable material, the report says. Of the material placed in a landfill last year, 32 percent could have been recycled, 37 percent could have been composted, and 26 percent could have been reused or recycled through specialized programs for textiles, electronics, construction materials and other bulky materials, according to the study. More than 40 percent of the state’s waste is construction and industrial materials.

A major problem the state faces is funding, the report says. Colorado charges a fee of $1.17 on every ton of waste sent to landfills, in addition to the price charged by the landfill. Of that fee, $0.46 per ton goes to support recycling programs and grants. That’s a far cry from other states such as Ohio and Wisconsin, which allocate between $2 and $7 per ton to recycling.

The report is meant to lay out four priority actions that the new state governor, Jared Polis, can take in the first 100 days of his administration “to make Colorado a recycling hub for the Rocky Mountain region.” Recommended actions include:

• Appointing a statewide recycling coordinator to coordinate with other state agencies, efforts and local governments.
• Launching a recycling market development initiative to attract and expand recycling businesses.
• Creating a statewide waste diversion funding task force to study and recommend ways to increase funding for waste reduction, reuse, recycling and manufacturing. Funding would be used to bring landfills in rural communities into compliance; expand recycling capacity; improve infrastructure for composting food scraps and recovering construction materials; give incentives for developing end markets and attracting business to the state; and provide technical support and assistance to local communities to expand recycling.
• Leading by example by expanding recycling and composting at state agencies, purchasing compost for state projects and setting recycling goals for state construction projects.

The state has a goal of achieving a recycling rate of 28 percent by 2021, which would keep an additional 1.5 million tons of waste out of landfills annually.