Opinion: Holding producers of packaging responsible will amp up Colorado recycling

Colorado was recently named one of the worst 10 states in the country at recycling in a national report from Colorado-based Ball Corporation. Recycling rates are estimated to be between 11-16% – less than half the national average. But what wasn’t reported is that Colorado is deep in the process of a major transformation of our recycling system that will move us from laggard to leader.

Our recycling problem has been an issue for decades, and we’ve been working on long-term solutions. One of the most important is House Bill 1355, which in 2022 created a Producer Responsibility Program for recycling that makes it easy for all Coloradans to recycle more plastics, aluminum cans, glass bottles, cardboard, and printed paper.

Under producer responsibility, any company selling products in Colorado (with exemptions for small businesses) will be responsible for paying to recycle the packaging for those products. Packaging can include things such as the box your toothpaste comes in, or the can containing your soda. How much they pay will depend on the amount of packaging and whether or not it can be recycled. This will encourage the use of less packaging and more recyclable materials.

As sponsors of this legislation, we are proud that Colorado is the first state in the country to create a fully producer-funded and operated statewide recycling system for all consumer-facing packaging and printed paper.

For more than two decades, 40 countries and provinces have had proven successes with similar systems, achieving recycling rates of 70% to 80%. Three other U.S. states have versions of Producer Responsibility for packaging, and more are looking to adopt their own policies based on these leading models. Colorado’s recycling rate is projected to increase to nearly 50% by 2035 under Producer Responsibility.

This law requires no state spending – it won’t be competing with school, health care or other critical funding. Instead, the costs will be shifted away from residents who pay for waste and recycling services, and onto the consumer goods companies responsible for creating packaging. Similar programs around the world have not led to an increase in consumer prices, with participating companies typically paying only fractions of a penny per container. According to Forbes, many factors, including labor, fuel costs, and supply chain disruptions, contribute to inflation and rising prices for consumers. These factors have a far greater impact on the price of goods than the funding used to support recycling.

To implement the new program, consumer goods companies formed a national nonprofit association, Circular Action Alliance (CAA). CAA is the first organization of its type in the United States and is built upon the expertise from Canadian and European systems.

Amazon, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, General Mills, Target, Walmart, and other leading consumer goods companies have invested millions of dollars into the startup of CAA, including conducting a needs assessment on how to improve recycling for every corner of our state. This is an unprecedented private business investment into Colorado’s recycling system and has already begun attracting national attention to Colorado as a place to invest in new recycling and remanufacturing businesses.

All this points to one of the most important goals of Producer Responsibility for Recycling: a stronger, more resilient Colorado economy and supply chain. Currently, Colorado landfills recyclable material that could have been sold for over $100 million and been used by businesses to reduce the impact of supply-chain challenges by creating a reliable source of paper, metal, plastics and glass to make new products. Colorado companies like Ball Corporation and New Belgium want their aluminum cans and glass bottles back so they can use more recycled materials to lower their carbon footprints and meet their climate and sustainability goals.

We have spent years listening to Colorado residents who want better recycling. This program will provide convenient access to all Colorado residents, including those in apartments and rural areas where recycling access is currently most lacking. We’ve also heard from local governments that they don’t have the funding or technical expertise to operate recycling programs. In the process of developing this legislation, more than four years of work and over 70 stakeholder meetings resulted in a solution overseen by the state, funded and run by industry, and supported by diverse stakeholders including major Colorado and national businesses, rural and urban local governments, and environmental and community organizations.