The Universal Recycling and Composting Ordinance applies to:
- Multi-unit dwellings of eight or more units
- Manufactured home communities (such as mobile home parks)
- Congregate living or boarding homes (such as housing co-ops)
The ordinance does NOT apply to townhomes or rowhomes that have an account with Denver Solid Waste Management.
Multifamily residential buildings are required to provide:
- Recycling and composting services to tenants, residents, employees, and contractors
- Signage that clearly identifies each waste stream and education on proper waste sorting for tenants, residents, employees, and contractors.
Who is responsible: if URCO applies to your building, the responsible person (or party) must ensure it meets URCO's requirements. The person or responsible party for multifamily residential buildings is the:
- Building owner
- Rental property license holder
- Boarding or care home park license holder
- Condo or co-op owner's association
- Any person or business acting for one of the above, including the property manager
Other ways to comply: Buildings may comply through alternative means (such as food donation, animal feed, on-site diversion, or other means), or by sharing services and costs.
Read the Full Rules and Regulations(PDF, 258KB)
In some situations, you can ask for an exemption from the URCO requirements. fFor example:
- Economic hardship. If paying for recycling or compost services would be so bad for your finances that you couldn’t inhibit your building’s ability to keep up with normal operations or employment levels.
- De minimis volumes of materials. If the building throws away less than:
- A medium-sized (64-gallon) cart per month of trash.
- A large-sized (96-gallon) cart per month of recyclables.
- A small-sized (48-gallon) cart per month of compost.
- Inadequacy of waste hauling services. If you have tried to set up the required waste hauling services for your building but are unable to get service because:
- No licensed waste hauler can collect your materials at your location.
- Haulers can’t provide service quickly enough.
- Service options don’t meet URCO’s minimum service level requirements.
- There are access or operational issues that mean a hauler can’t provide service on time.
- Space constraints. If you don’t have space to put all the containers, or the only space you have isn’t safe for the hauler to access.
Exemption forms are under development and will be available in the coming weeks.
The URCO Waste Diversion Plan is a template you submit to the city showing how your building is complying with recycling and composting requirements.
The Waste Diversion Plan template, along with a submission platform, is under development and will be available in the coming weeks.
The city will also provide resources for residents and tenants to learn how to report compliance issues that arise after the compliance date.
Use our checklist for step-by-step instructions for compliance, supporting materials, tips, and best practices.
Compliance Checklist for Multifamily Residential Buildings
Signage can be picture-only or bilingual. Signage provided by waste haulers may be used if it meets these requirements. The city also offers templates that meet the signage requirements:
Sample bilingual signs. Please download the signs using the buttons below instead of saving these images.