DENVER — In November 2022, 70% of Denver voters approved the Waste No More ballot initiative to require city apartment buildings, businesses and large events to provide recycling and composting services. It would also establish new recycling and composting requirements for large events and construction and demolition sites.
Two years later, enforcement is still on hold as the city works on how to put the ordinance into action.
Earlier this month, Denver7 spoke with city leaders about that process.
“Those big systems changes also come with complications,” said Jonathan Wachtel, deputy executive director for the Denver Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency. “They come with costs.”
“You can have a climate-friendly city and a business-friendly city at the same time, and we've been very thoughtful about how we've approached it,” said Tim Hoffman, director of policy for Mayor Mike Johnston’s office.
Hoffman added that he “completely” understands the frustration some have with the ordinance not being implemented more than two years after passing.
Brian Loma, an environmental advocate and one of the original proponents of the ordinance, is feeling that frustration. He said Denver is “lagging behind” other Colorado cities that are implementing their own Zero Waste policies.
“The intent was for Denver to be the leader, the largest city in the state of Colorado doing the hard work to show everybody else it can be done,” he said Wednesday. “It’s a matter of civic pride.”
After discussions with advocates and the business community, the city is now proposing exceptions to the ordinance.
“Making sure that we weren't putting undue burdens on small businesses, small restaurants, small events,” said Hoffman.
For example, restaurants with 25 or fewer employees who made $2 million or less in revenue the previous year would be exempt from the composting requirement. Loma said that should not be an excuse.
“My business doesn't do $100,000 a year, and I compost and recycle as much as humanly possible,” he said. “It’s not about how much business you do. It’s about how much waste you produce.”
Environment
City of Denver working to expand recycling and composting
In their own waste management ordinances, cities like Boulder and Longmont have exemptions for businesses facing “economic hardship” situations. Longmont specifically spells out an exemption for businesses whose losses from the prior fiscal year were more than 10 percent of gross sales.
But Loma said an exemption solely based on profits and employee count would be unique and unnecessary.
“The point of Waste No More was to get people to talk about their waste plans,” he said. “Create a plan on how to divert and then look at what the costs are and determine if that would be a hardship or not, not to carve out and just say a whole bunch of people are exempt before you even come up with a plan.”
That being said, Loma clarified that he and the other originators of the ballot measure want to discuss and meet somewhere in the middle with city leaders.
On Wednesday, Denver City Council’s business committee pushed the next conversation to July, but with a sense of urgency.
“There’s been so much work done and I don’t want the policy to flounder or to take more time when we need to get this implemented in, because stuff is going into the landfill as we speak,” Denver City Councilmember Stacie Gilmore said during Wednesday’s committee meeting.
Ordinance enforcement is slated to begin in April 2026, but city leaders suggested during the meeting that further delays in finalizing exemptions would put that timeline in jeopardy.
