Big brands to pick up Cortez's recycling tab

Cortez’s curbside recycling program, which also serves Dolores, is among the first in Colorado to be paid for by the companies that make the boxes, bottles and cans residents put in their bins.

The City of Cortez has signed a funding agreement with Circular Action Alliance Colorado, the nonprofit that runs the state’s producer-funded recycling program, on behalf of both Cortez and the Town of Dolores. The alliance announced the agreement Sept. 16, together with one for the Routt County town of Oak Creek.

City officials told The Colorado Sun, in a story published Monday, that the reimbursements will pay for a more efficient recycling truck and other improvements. They expect those changes to raise recycling rates and push back the day the area needs an expensive new landfill.

What residents will see

Residents won’t pay less, because they don’t pay for recycling now. The service is already free for Cortez and Dolores residents, and there will be no immediate changes to it, the city said Tuesday in written answers to the Cortez Current’s questions, relayed by Public Information Officer Kelly Codner. More staff, more equipment and newly accepted materials can be expected “as the program matures,” the city said.

The money is meant to reimburse the city for what it has already been spending on recycling. How much Cortez receives will depend on its recycling services budget and on whether it meets the deliverables spelled out in the agreement, and the city said it will report the exact amount once the money arrives. It expects the first payments sometime between now and the end of the year. The city did not say when it expects the new truck.

Residents who don’t have curbside recycling yet can order free bins by calling 970-564-4042.

How the program works

The program comes from a 2022 state law, the Producer Responsibility Program for Statewide Recycling Act (HB22-1355). Companies that sell packaged products and printed paper in Colorado pay dues to the alliance, which is led by producers from the food, beverage, consumer goods and retail industries. Each company’s dues depend on the kinds and amounts of material it ships into the state. The money then goes to cities, haulers and recycling plants to cover the cost of collecting and processing those materials.

State health officials approved the alliance’s plan last December, and producers started paying in January. The law’s goal is to lift Colorado’s recycling rate for packaging and paper from about 25% to 41% by 2030.

Juri Freeman, the alliance’s Colorado executive director, called the expansion “a long-term effort” in the Sept. 16 announcement and said the group is working with communities, haulers, recycling plants and the state.

RecycleOn Colorado, the program’s public information site, lists Cortez among city- and town-run curbside programs that are free for single-family homes and for buildings with seven or fewer units. As of the list’s Oct. 2 update, the only others were Grand Junction, Oak Creek and Thornton. Golden is expected to join soon.

Recycling in Cortez

Cortez has offered weekly curbside recycling since July 1991. Bins go out by 6 a.m. on the regular trash day. According to the city, curbside pickup takes glass bottles and jars, office paper, aluminum, cardboard, tin and steel cans, and No. 1 and No. 2 plastics. The drop-off at the City Service Center in the Industrial Park takes aluminum, cardboard, tin and steel, and No. 1 and No. 2 plastics only — no glass, newspaper or office paper.

The city also has an online recycling tool and game. This QR code opens it on a phone:

Mancos and unincorporated Montezuma County do not appear on the program’s list of participating providers.

Distance has long been the problem here. A November 2024 Aspen Public Radio report on rural recycling named the county’s remote location as the main obstacle, and Colby Earley, the city’s refuse and recycling superintendent, said he hoped the new program would make recycling in the area easier and cheaper. At the time, plastics collected at the city’s service center were trucked to the Montezuma County Landfill to be baled and shipped out.

Court challenges

The program is being challenged in court. The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors sued in federal court in Denver on July 30, arguing that the law lets a private group set fees without enough oversight, forces businesses to join and pay for it, and bars them from telling customers about the cost. The group has asked a judge to put the program on hold while the case proceeds. As of mid-October no ruling had been issued; the state has asked the court to dismiss the case, and a scheduling conference is set for Oct. 21.

A trade group for lubricant manufacturers filed a separate challenge in Denver District Court in March. Critics have also argued that the alliance is dominated by the biggest packaging companies, such as Coca-Cola and Amazon.

The alliance is moving ahead in the meantime, signing agreements with haulers and processors. Its first included Apex Waste Solutions, Boulder County, Bruin Waste, Clean Valley Recycling and Ranch Creek Waste; talks are underway with Republic Services, Waste Connections of Colorado and Waste Management.

Also this week: bulk clean-up

This week, Oct. 19–23, is also the city’s fall Bulk Clean-Up Week. Crews pick up sorted piles of bulky items on each neighborhood’s regular trash day and won’t come back for piles they miss. The clean-up weeks are held the third full week of May and October each year. The city’s clean-up page lists what is and isn’t taken; questions go to 970-565-7320.

Questions about Cortez recycling service go to the city’s recycling division at 970-565-7320, ext. 3352. More on the statewide program is at RecycleOn.org/Colorado.

Sources: City of Cortez (written responses, Oct. 20); Circular Action Alliance Colorado news release (Sept. 16); The Colorado Sun; RecycleOn Colorado; City of Cortez website; Resource Recycling and EPR Atlas (court filings); Aspen Public Radio.