Colorado

Senator Lisa Cutter was the lead sponsor for Colorado's EPR for packaging legislation and Kate Bailey was the lead writer.

Recommendations for Policymakers Developing Circular Policy & EPR for Packaging Policies:

1. Local governments + NGOs + Businesses = powerful coalition.

Colorado enacted several key recycling laws that helped pave the way for packaging EPR, including a legislative commission to study recycling policies, EPR for paint, an economic development center to attract recycling businesses, a landfill fee increase to fund a $100 million waste diversion grant program, and ban on some single-use plastics. These efforts helped educate legislators on the economic and environmental benefits of better recycling, and also brought together key stakeholders to discuss the best policies to improve recycling statewide. Thanks to years of work with legislators and stakeholders, we are so proud that we had bipartisan sponsors for the EPR law and a strong coalition of local governments, NGOs, and businesses working together to pass our law.

2. Packaging EPR is first and foremost about our local governments & residents.

At their core, packaging EPR laws require the companies that sell packaging to pay for recycling and managing their waste. We earned support from rural, urban, progressive, and conservative local governments because Colorado’s packaging EPR law focused primarily on reducing costs for cities and counties, and providing more and improved recycling services to residents. Colorado’s EPR law is the only US program that is 100% funded and managed by the producers. This approach best fit the needs of our local governments, our state goals to promote business innovation, and our state governance model that balances the need for oversight with the necessarily independent functioning of the PRO.

3. Measure. Plan. Evaluate. Revise. Repeat.

EPR is a new system for funding and managing recycling for decades to come. We chose to be less prescriptive in the law knowing that the program would need to evolve over time. We focused on the structure of the program and the decision-making process, including how data is collected, how it informs the program plan, and how the plan is amended and improved when changes are needed. We did not set hard targets in statute because we did not know what it would cost to achieve those targets, and we wanted to balance our goals with the costs of implementation.

Resources:

- World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and American Beverage Association (ABA) joint EPR principles: Helped to find alignment between NGOs and businesses.

- Annual State of Recycling in Colorado reports: Raised awareness and built momentum on how Colorado would benefit from better recycling.

- Interim Legislative Zero Waste Committee: Helped inform our path forward by educating the bipartisan committee, creating a potential framework of supportive legislation, and solidifying relationships essential to achieving our long-term goals.

- Canadian Packaging EPR laws: Learned from their 20 years of implementing EPR programs, including the relatively simplified law structure and the transition from partial funding to fully industry-run programs."