Fort Collins, CO Trash & Recycling: Mandatory Organics Recycling (2026)

Section 12-23 of the Municipal Code has required qualifying food stores to subscribe to food-scrap collection since December 31, 2017. The trigger is volume: any food store within the City that disposes of more than 96 gallons of food scraps per week must sign up with a licensed collector for that service unless the City's Director of Environmental Services grants a variance. To get a variance, the store submits a written request on a City form showing good cause, such as lacking space for a food-scraps container, donating all scraps for human or animal consumption, self-hauling to a facility permitted by the State of Colorado (never a landfill), running scraps through a garbage disposal or similar in-sink technology tied to the wastewater system, on-site composting, or simply not generating food scraps.

An approved variance lasts 12 months, and the store can reapply for another 12-month term if the underlying constraint still exists. Once a store is subscribed, Subsection 12-23(b) sets the minimum service frequency: collection must happen often enough to prevent container overflow, at least once a week, and no less frequently than Larimer County Department of Health and Environment requires. Subsection 12-23(c) closes the loophole a variance does not cover: absent an approved variance, a food store cannot commingle food scraps with regular refuse or recyclables, and cannot dispose of scraps any way other than delivery to a state-permitted collection facility, which specifically excludes a landfill.