Denver is rolling out its Waste No More ordinance, a community-driven effort to build a circular waste system through 2026 with agency coordination, outreach and rulemaking. | Ted Alexander Somerville / Shutterstock
Denver has begun implementing its community-led Waste No More ordinance, sweeping legislation designed to transform the city’s waste collection system toward a circular economy model.
Given the compressed timeline between passage and enforcement, city officials established key milestones leading up to the deadline of September 1, 2026.
“At least six different city agencies will be involved in developing rules and regulations and implementing the ordinance,” said Tay Dunklee, manager of zero waste and circular economy for Denver’s Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency department.
City agencies are busy developing technical guidance documents providing best practices and implementation guidance for the parties outlined in the ordinance. The city is also creating signage templates that individual businesses and buildings can customize.
Additional details and definitions regarding requirements and exemptions will be developed through a public rulemaking process in late 2025 and early 2026, Dunklee added.
In this three-part series, Resource Recycling speaks with stakeholders who advocated for and are now working to roll out the legislation in the Mile High City. Part one features a Q&A with Dunklee, examining the enforcement and education needed. The following interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Which stakeholders do you consider essential partners in the public education campaign, and how are you coordinating messaging with them?
City staff will employ the help and support of many external stakeholders and partners to amplify sharable information related to this ordinance. These external partners will include haulers, processors, industry associations, community and neighborhood associations, city agency partners, previous task force members and ballot sponsors, etc.
Staff have already developed an initial ordinance Share Kit with audience-specific fact sheets that are intended to be shared widely by partners. We will also coordinate our messaging and implementation efforts with complementary programs such as the statewide Extended Producer Responsibility Program implementation.
How are you planning to engage with small business owners who may feel overwhelmed by the new requirements? What specific outreach strategies will you use to reach multifamily property owners versus restaurants versus construction companies, given their varying operational constraints?
We understand that the many entities impacted by this ordinance are unique and will require specific resources and guidance. For this reason, we are developing outreach materials specific to each audience, and plan to continue with this strategy. We understand that different groups will need different information – whether its business owners that want to request an exemption, property owners that need guidance on setting up hauling services, or apartment residents who are learning how to properly separate their food scraps for composting.
Some council members cited potential burdens on small businesses. What specific concerns have you identified through early stakeholder conversations, and how might the hardship exemption process address these?
We are uncertain what percentage of business and/or buildings will apply for exemptions. Further definition of exemptions and the processes to request exemptions will be further clarified during the development of Rules and Regulations.
A previous version of the updated ordinance language did include an exemption for all restaurants that earn less than $2 million in annual revenues and employ fewer than 25 workers. However, this exemption was removed during the final stages of ordinance adoption. Therefore, exemptions for restaurants and all other impacted entities will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
We do anticipate that many of Denver’s smallest restaurants may apply for economic hardship exemptions based on the additional cost of implementing new recycling and/or composting services. Without applying for an exemption, businesses that add compost collection service to existing trash and recycling services will need to budget for those services and make room for a second and/or third outdoor collection container. A business that adds recycling or compost collection service may be able to reduce their trash collection service volume (either by reducing a container size or the collection frequency) to save money and space, but this can be difficult for businesses that contract with different haulers for their trash, recycling and/or composting services, or for instances in which multiple businesses share access to common collection containers within a building or shopping center.
How will the city verify compliance across such diverse sectors from food vendors at outdoor events to C&D contractors? What tech or systems are you developing to track participation and identify non-compliant entities?
Compliance across multiple sectors ranging from food waste producers to multifamily buildings to construction projects will require careful coordination of many city agencies as well as several existing and new administrative processes. To the extent in which it is possible and appropriate, compliance tracking will be coordinated with existing business license and/or permit processes. Ordinance compliance tracking also requires new technology solutions which the city is already working to develop.
What outcomes or benchmarks will define success two years following implementation? Beyond compliance rates, how will you measure the ordinance’s impact on actual waste diversion?
The city collects annual citywide waste diversion data through its waste hauler licensing program and uses this data to track progress towards citywide waste diversion goals. This data set will enable the city to track the diversion impact of the Universal Recycling and Composting Ordinance through time. The combination of sector-specific compliance data and citywide diversion data will allow the city to make data-informed decisions and investments in additional implementation supports, education and compliance efforts that will improve overall program impact and diversion.”
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