5 county-level rules, plus city-specific rules for 2 cities in Boulder County, Colorado.
Verified from official government sources
Boulder County uses private licensed haulers, not county trucks. Ordinance 2019-3 requires all haulers to be licensed and to offer Pay-As-You-Throw trash pricing plus curbside recycling and, in many regions, organics collection. Services vary by hauler region.
Boulder County Waste Hauler Ordinance 2019-3
Boulder County Ordinance #2019-3 requires licensing of all hauling companies operating in Boulder County that collect, transport, or dispose of discarded materials (trash, recyclables, compostables, construction and demolition materials, aggregate, or landscaping materials).
Boulder County's hauler ordinance sets cart and service requirements rather than a countywide curbside placement time. In bear country, food-waste organics must be collected in a bear-proof container. Follow your licensed hauler's set-out day and location instructions.
Boulder County residents can take mattresses, electronics, tires, scrap metal, and appliances to the Eco-Cycle CHaRM (Center for Hard to Recycle Materials) at 6400 Arapahoe Road, Boulder, open Monday–Saturday 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Licensed haulers also offer bulky pickups.
Under the Waste Hauler Ordinance (2019-3), haulers must provide curbside single-stream recycling in many regions and, in denser areas, curbside organics (food and yard waste) collection. Boulder County's Zero Waste goal (Resolution 2005-138) drives these mandates.
Boulder County Hauler Ordinance 2019-3 (Region 1)
In this region, haulers must provide pay-as-you-throw trash service and unlimited recycling. Starting Jan. 1, haulers are required to provide 32-gallons of organics collection service, either weekly or every other week.
Dumping trash on public or private land is illegal statewide under Colorado's littering law (C.R.S. 18-4-511), a class 2 petty offense with mandatory fines from $20 up to $1,000. On unincorporated county land, dumped rubbish is also a nuisance abatable under Land Use Code Article 14.
C.R.S. 18-4-511
Littering ... is a class 2 petty offense punishable, upon conviction, by a mandatory fine of not less than twenty dollars nor more than five hundred dollars upon a first conviction, by a mandatory fine of not less than fifty dollars nor more than one thousand dollars upon a second conviction, and ... not less than one hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars upon a third or subsequent...
2 cities in Boulder County have their own trash & recycling rules. Each link goes to that city's dedicated page with code citations.
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