The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is pleased to celebrate Colorado Recycles Week and encourages Coloradans to do their part to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Here are some easy ways for you to make a difference: The department’s Erase the Waste site has a variety of useful tips to reduce waste:
- Fight Food Waste: As much as 40 percent of food is wasted. Planning meals, proper food storage techniques, freezing leftovers, and composting are effective ways to reduce the amount of food and packaging that end up in our landfills.
- Buy Big, Buy Less: Buying frequently used household items like coffee or toilet paper in bulk reduces unnecessary packaging waste and saves trips to the grocery store. When shopping online, choose multiple items to be shipped all at once.
- Bring Your Own: Bringing a reusable bag to the grocery store or reusable water bottles and coffee cups to work/school can significantly impact and reduce the amount of waste you create.
- Skip the Plastic Utensils. If you don’t need disposable straws, plates, plastic silverware, or napkins with your takeout, don’t take them.
CDPHE has taken numerous steps to create a more sustainable Colorado through programming, grants, advancing infrastructure, and partnerships that aim to reduce waste and provide equitable recycling to all Coloradans.“Together we can improve the state’s waste diversion rate,” said CDPHE’s Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division Director, Tracie White. “Initiatives like Colorado Recycles Week remind us how important it is to continuously enhance our efforts to improve the quality of public health and the environment for both the current and future residents of Colorado.”
Here is a glimpse of what the state is working on:
Reducing waste
- In response to the findings of the Statewide Organics Management Plan, the department is proposing changes to the solid waste composting regulations, in order to make it easier for small and mid-sized food waste compost facilities to obtain permits and to expand opportunities for diverting food waste. These changes will encourage the creation of more compost facilities that can accept food waste throughout the state.
- The Front Range Waste Diversion Grant Program specifically targets diversion on the 13 Front Range counties where 80 percent of the state’s waste is generated. To date, the grant program has awarded nearly $18 million in grant funding. The current request for applications has a broad focus and a minimum ton- nage diverted requirement. The application period will close at 3 p.m. on January 12, 2024.
Providing equitable recycling collection
- The Producer Responsibility Program for Statewide Recycling implementation has begun. The 15-member advisory board of recycling experts was appointed in December 2022, and the Producer Responsibility Organization, Circular Action Alliance, was approved on April 1, 2023. The statewide recycling needs assessment is currently underway and will be complete by January 2024. The extended producer responsibility program shifts the end-of-life management costs for recycling packaging and paper products from consumers and local governments to the producers. The program will provide equitable recycling to all Coloradans at no cost and is anticipated to begin in January 2026.
- One gallon of improperly disposed paint has the ability to pollute up to 250,000 gallons of water. The Colorado Paint Stewardship Program, operated by “PaintCare” with oversight by the department, is here to prevent that by supporting convenient collection of unused paint. Since 2015, PaintCare has collected over 5.3 million gallons of unused paint and has established 196 free drop-off sites across Colorado. You can find a paint collection drop-off near you for your leftover paint.
- Advancing Colorado’s infrastructure and economy
- Colorado’s Circular Economy Development Center is up and running as of July 1, 2023. The center will grow existing, and create new, recycling and composting end markets, attract remanufacturers and entrepreneurs to the state, and provide the necessary infrastructure, logistics, and marketing to create a sustainable circular economy for recycled commodities.
- We fund statewide waste diversion projects and provide rebates for community recycling centers through our Recycling Resources Economic Opportunity Grant Program. The department has awarded over $27 million to develop recycling and composting infrastructure and promote sustainable behavior change in com- munities across Colorado. The current request for applications is focused on funding projects that will maximize waste diversion and create jobs in Colorado. Applications are due no later than 3 p.m. on January 5, 2024.
- To further increase the diversion rate, the department is investing in creating local demand for recycled materials to advance a circular economy by supporting a fifth cohort of Colorado NextCycle, a program designed to boost remanufacturing solutions for recycled content in Colorado. We are accepting applications from interested teams through December 1, 2023.
