Denver Voters Said "Waste No More." Now It's Time to Figure Out How.

Photo Credit: Waste No More Facebook Page

Change is coming to Denver's waste bins, and it's almost here. Four years after more than 70% of Denver voters approved the Waste No More ballot initiative, the Universal Recycling and Composting Ordinance (URCO) officially takes effect on September 1, 2026. If you manage an apartment building, run a restaurant, plan events, or oversee a construction project in Denver, it's coming your way. The rules are written. The requirements are set. And now it's all of our responsibility to implement it.

We know that's a lot to land on one deadline.

Unfortunately, adding a recycling or composting bin doesn't automatically mean everything ends up in the right place. A recycling bin can still fill up with trash. A compost bin can get contaminated. A perfectly designed sign can still be ignored. A Waste Diversion Plan sets the direction. Putting it into action in a busy apartment building, during a dinner rush, on a construction site or among a crowd of ten thousand people is where planning meets the real world.

Here's the good news - you don't have to figure this out alone!

What is URCO?

URCO (Universal Recycling and Composting Ordinance) expands waste diversion requirements across Denver's multifamily properties, businesses, permitted events, and construction and demolition projects, and the exact requirements depend on which category you fall into. If you manage a multifamily building with eight or more units, or run a licensed food business, you're required to provide both recycling and composting. If you run a non-residential business, recycling is required and composting is optional. If you're planning a covered permitted event, you're on the hook for containers, signage, training and a Waste Diversion Plan. And if you're managing a construction or demolition project, you need to divert at least 50% of onsite debris by weight, recover at least three covered materials, and document all of it.

Denver has resources to help you figure out exactly which requirements apply to you. That part's straightforward. What's harder is turning "here's what's required" into a system that actually holds up for you and your organization.

Fore more information on URCO, visit https://denvergov.org/UniversalRecycling

Here's Where It Gets Real

Knowing you need recycling and composting is one thing. Building a system that works for your building, your kitchen, your event or your job site is another. Where do the containers go? How many do you need, and what size? Is the signage clear enough that nobody has to think about it? Do your residents, your staff, or your guests actually understand what goes where?

These are the details that make or break a program, and they look different depending on what you're running.

That's exactly the kind of problem we help solve, and it's why we've built this next part for you.

Your Starting Point: Understand What You're Working With

You can't fix a waste system you don't understand yet. Sometimes that means a formal waste audit or characterization study. Other times, it just means paying closer attention to what's happening at the bin: what's filling your landfill containers, whether recyclables are getting thrown away, how much food waste you're generating, and where contamination is creeping in.

This is where we come in.

At Diversion Designers, we've sorted thousands of pounds of waste to help organizations like yours find out exactly what's being discarded, where recoverable materials are slipping through the cracks, and where the real opportunities are. The goal was never just to find out what's in the trash. It's to hand you something you can actually use.

Your Plan for Getting Ready

You don't have to redesign your entire waste system in one afternoon. Here's the path we walk clients through, and you can start working it today.

1. Know What Applies to You. Start with Denver's official URCO resources and pin down exactly which requirements apply to your property, business, event or project. Don't assume your requirements match the organization next door, they vary by sector.

2. Look Inside the Bins. You don't need a full-scale characterization study to start seeing patterns. Are the same recyclables repeatedly landing in the trash? Is one compost container always contaminated? Is one area generating way more waste than another? Repeat offenders point you toward the real problem, whether that's signage, education, infrastructure or purchasing.

3. Check Your Infrastructure. Look at where your recycling, compost and landfill containers actually sit. Are they where people need them? Are they the right size? Are the streams placed together so the choice is obvious? Make the correct choice the easy choice. If people have to search for the right bin, the system is already working against them.

4. Make Your Signage Specific. Generic signs don't answer the questions people actually have. Build signage around the materials you actually generate, and show people what they're holding. Familiar examples make sorting decisions easier.

5. Talk to the People Using the System. Your employees, residents, tenants, vendors, contractors and event staff experience your waste system very differently than the person who designed it. Ask them what's confusing. If the same question keeps coming up, that's information you can use.

6. Look Upstream. Diversion isn't only about what happens at the bin. Purchasing decisions, packaging, service ware, vendor requirements and reusable alternatives all shape what ends up in your waste stream in the first place. Sometimes the best way to keep something out of the landfill is to make sure it never becomes waste at all.

7. Measure, Adjust and Keep Going. A Waste Diversion Plan isn't a finish line, it's a starting point. Once your system is live, watch what happens. What's working? Where's the contamination? Are people using it the way you expected? Then adjust. Understand, design, implement, measure, adjust, repeat.

If You're Planning an Event Next Year, Start Talking Trash Now

Events come with their own version of this problem. Picture a crowd of a few thousand people finishing their food at roughly the same time, each with about three seconds to decide: trash, recycling, or compost? What they choose in that moment depends entirely on decisions made long before they ever walked up to the station: vendor coordination, service ware, signage, station placement, staff training, and hauling logistics.

Under URCO, covered permitted events now carry requirements around recycling, composting, signage, training and a Waste Diversion Plan, which means the planning has to start well before your permit application, not the week of. This is exactly what we do. We work with event organizers and vendors to build the system before the event begins, and we're there managing it once your attendees show up.

When You Need More Than a Checklist

Maybe the steps above are enough to get you moving. Maybe they're not, and you're left with bigger questions. You don't know what's actually in your waste stream. Contamination keeps happening and you can't figure out why. You're not sure what infrastructure actually fits your property. You've got multiple vendors or stakeholders to coordinate. You're planning an event and don't have anyone in-house who knows waste. Or you just know something has to change and you don't know where to start.

That's exactly where we come in. Our team works with businesses, municipalities, event organizers and property managers through waste audits and characterization studies, diversion consulting and planning, project management, education, and sustainable event coordination. You bring the property, the business or the event. We bring the expertise to turn "we need to do something about our waste" into a system that actually works.

September 1 Is Just Your Starting Line

Denver voters made their intentions clear when they approved Waste No More back in 2022. They wanted the city to waste less. URCO gives you the framework to make that happen, but you're the one who has to build it inside your building, your business or your event.

There will be lessons. There will be adjustments. There will probably be a few things in the wrong bin along the way. That's what building a real system looks like.

If you're staring down September 1 and not sure where to start, start by taking a closer look at your waste.

And when you're ready to turn what you find into a plan that actually works, we're ready to help.