Colorado’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Needs Assessment was recently released, confirming there is reason to be hopeful recycling will improve in Colorado. This is encouraging news. The Colorado Producer Responsibility Program was passed by the state legislature in 2022 with the intent of improving our state’s disappointingly low recycling rates. The Needs Assessment shows simply by implementing EPR, the state could increase our recycling rates from about 25% to a minimum of 33% or as much as 60% by 2035.

The law requires all Colorado residents, whether they live in a single-family or multi-family home, will have recycling service for no additional charge, and has the complementary benefits of providing incentives for manufacturers to improve the recyclability of packaging. A crucially important provision of this law is advances will be funded by the producers of materials, so it will not add cost to consumers or to local governments.

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This needs assessment is of particular interest to Fort Collins where our county is in the process of closing our old landfill and opening a new one, bringing into clear focus the high expense of waste. It’s frustrating and expensive to landfill materials that could be reused or recycled.

I know we all want to improve this flawed system, but until now consumers, residents and governments have had limited options.

It’s been quite challenging as a City Council member to help residents and business owners navigate the confusing, mixed messages about recycling. The underlying narrative “recycling doesn’t work,” is a self-fulfilling prophecy: If we don’t recycle, there isn’t enough material to support a recycling industry. The EPR program turns this belief around by providing incentives for businesses to produce recyclable packaging while using fewer resources, which ultimately saves producers – and in turn customers – money. And it gives consumers additional confidence items tossed into the recycle bin will truly be recycled.

I believe most of us want to reduce waste, and there are many good reasons to do so, including the conservation of resources used for manufacturing and limiting dangerous emissions and greenhouse gases that landfills release. Reducing costs of solid waste disposal is an added, important component of reducing waste.

The State of Colorado has emissions reduction goals, as do local governments like Fort Collins. A successful producer responsibility program not only helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it is also good for business, good for the planet, good for residents and good for local governments.

Tricia Canonico is the Fort Collins city council member for District 3.