How Recycling is Paid for Under Colorado’s EPR Program (and What It Means for You)

Imagine being able to toss your recyclables into a bin — just as convenient as your trash bin — and without extra fees. If recycling is truly free and simple for Colorado residents under the EPR program, it raises a natural question: who’s picking up the tab?

Who Pays for Recycling in Colorado

Under Colorado’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) law, the companies that make packaging and paper products pay to support the recycling system.

Packaging and paper products include things like cardboard boxes, metal cans, glass bottles, shampoo bottles and so much more. Instead of placing the cost of recycling those everyday items on residents or local governments, Colorado’s approach shifts responsibility to the producers that put these materials into the marketplace in the first place.

EPR funding helps cover the real costs of recycling, including:

• Collecting recyclable materials
• Sorting and processing them
• Supporting education so people know how to recycle correctly
• Improving recycling access and consistency across the state over time

For residents, the goal is simple: recycling that’s easier to understand, easier to use and easier to trust — without added recycling fees at home.

What “Producer Responsibility” Means

Extended Producer Responsibility, or EPR, might sound technical, but the idea is straightforward.

When companies design and sell packaged products, they also share responsibility for what happens to that packaging after it’s used. In Colorado, that means producers contribute funding to help recycle, compost or dispose of those materials responsibly. This shifts costs away from residents, taxpayers or local programs.

What EPR Means for Residents

For Coloradans, EPR is designed to deliver a few key benefits:

• Clearer, more consistent recycling guidelines: Statewide education and guidance help reduce confusion about what belongs in recycling — even though services may still vary by community while the program is ramping up.
• Improved accountability: A system funded by producers is built to track performance and ensure materials are recycled into new products.
• No recycling fee at the bin: Recycling is intended to be accessible without requiring residents to pay a separate recycling charge.
• A system that can grow over time: Producer funding expands recycling access, especially in areas that have limited recycling.

Recycling Is a Shared Responsibility

A strong recycling system doesn’t depend on one group alone. Producers fund the system.Communities and recycling collectors deliver recycling services. Residents help by recycling the right items the right way.

Each role matters, and each works best when the system is clear and consistent. Colorado’s EPR program supports all those groups so recycling works better for everyone. Not overnight, and not everywhere at once — but steadily, transparently and with shared accountability.

When people recycle, they deserve to know their effort counts. Understanding how recycling is paid for is one step toward a system Coloradans can count on.