The Universal Recycling and Composting Ordinance applies to most buildings considered "non-residential" properties within the City and County of Denver.
Examples of non-residential buildings include:
- Office buildings
- Retail stores
- Hotels
- Hospitals
- Venues
The ordinance does NOT apply to:
- Parking garages
- Parking structures
- Parking lots
- Vehicle depots
- Vacant lots
- Condemned properties
- Undeveloped land
Non-residential buildings are required to provide:
- Recycling services for customers, employees, and contractors. At minimum, recycling must be 30% of the total weekly service capacity.
- Signage that clearly identifies each waste stream, and education on proper waste sorting for customers, 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 non-residential buildings is the:
- Building owner
- Condo or co-op owner's association
- Any person pr business acting for one of the above, including the property manager
Other ways to comply: Buildings may comply through alternative means or by sharing services and costs.
See the Full Rules and Regulations(PDF, 258KB)
In some situations, you can ask for an exemption from the URCO requirements. For example:
- Economic hardship. If paying for recycling services would inhibit your building’s ability to be so bad for your finances that you couldn’t 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.
- 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 complies with recycling access requirements.
The Waste Diversion Plan template is under development and will be available, along with a submission platform, in the coming weeks.
Use our checklist for step-by-step instructions for compliance, supporting materials, tips, and best practices.
Compliance Checklist for Non-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.