Bill would exempt small businesses

Eco-cycle has been a leader in recycling for 46 years. We have worked closely with businesses and local governments to create HB22-1355 Producer Responsibility for Recycling as the best solution to provide free, convenient recycling to all Coloradans and to strengthen our supply chains with recycled materials that we are currently landfilling.

We appreciate all that 4Noses does to recycle their aluminum. We agree that small businesses should not be burdened and have drafted the bill to exempt small businesses.

Through conversations with the Colorado Brewers Guild, the exemption for businesses with under $5 million in annual revenues was amended to exclude on-premise alcohol sales (Colorado Brewers Guild is now neutral on the bill).

HB22-1355 is a solution to Colorado’s unacceptable 15% recycling rate. In Boulder and Broomfield counties, most residents have recycling access. That’s not true for much of Colorado or for most apartment residents.

Through HB22-1355, brand name companies will pay a small amount for the packaging (boxes, cans, bottles, etc.) they use. Those funds will then pay for free recycling for all Coloradans. The bill also creates a statewide recyclables list so you can conveniently recycle the same items throughout Colorado.

Increasing recycling access will dramatically increase the amount of material we divert from landfills. Colorado buries over $100 million in recyclable metal, paper, plastic and glass annually.

Over 95% of what we landfill could be diverted into our supply chain as feedstocks for new materials. A case in point is aluminum. The global aluminum shortage is causing skyrocketing prices and making it hard for small brewers to get cans. Yet Colorado landfills 85% of our cans.

HB22-1355 will create an effective statewide recycling system that captures our recyclable materials including cans, bottles and cardboard for a greener, more resilient supply chain.

Learn more at recyclingforallcoloradans.org/.

RACHEL SETZKE Eco-cycle Inc. senior policy and research associate

Boulder

Colorado Legislature, will help businesses across Colorado by creating a more resilient domestic supply of recycled materials to make new products and reduce reliance on imported materials.

I serve as the City Council-appointed representative to Broomfield’s Advisory Committee on Environmental Sustainability. With the recommendation of ACES in February, Broomfield adopted zero waste goals to increase waste diversion for Broomfield to 50% or better by the year 2025, with the ultimate goal to eliminate waste by 2035.

According to our waste audit, an estimated 66,000 metric tons of waste was generated in Broomfield in 2020 but only 23% was diverted.

The state as a whole currently has an unacceptable waste-diversion rate of only 15%. Given the proper infrastructure, there is a lot of room for improvement.

My constituents are demanding better recycling options, as shown by extensive stakeholder feedback in developing our January 2022 Zero Waste Plan.

It was sadly ironic that the co-chair of ACES lived in an apartment complex that didn’t provide recycling opportunities, pointing to a service inequity between single-family homes and multifamily residences that frequently exists in Colorado. This Producer Responsibility legislation will make it easy for all Coloradans to recycle.

To quote our Broomfield ACES co-chair, “It is noble to endeavor toward a world without waste, made harder because most people don’t think twice when they throw trash away. But, ‘away’ is a real place and ‘trash’ is a real resource.”

The Producer Responsibility Program would reframe Colorado as a state that values a resource recovery-based economy.

I encourage the State General Assembly to pass HB22-1355 this session.

JEAN LIM City Council Member Ward 3

Broomfield

“burden … our most vulnerable residents.”

Not included among the “most vulnerable residents,” presumably, are children (of any income level) suffering from asthma, older people (of any income level) with respiratory illnesses and any person required to work outside (probably mostly lower-income Coloradans) during the summer months.

I hope the citizens of Colorado will not be fooled by the petroleum industry’s faux concern for the poor.

I am glad that in refusing to apply for a waiver of the EPA’S decision, our governor has not been swayed by the likelihood of short-term political gain over the longterm health of Coloradans. MARTIN GERRA

Boulder