Boulder, CO Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)

Chapter 6-12, "Trash, Recyclables and Compostables Hauling," regulates how licensed haulers, not just residents, handle Boulder's waste streams. Section 6-12-6(a) makes it unlawful for anyone other than the person who set out the material, or that person's designated hauler, to take physical possession of recyclables or compostables that have been separated from trash and placed curbside or in an alley for collection, a rule aimed at scavengers and unauthorized collectors. Subsection (b) requires each property owner, manager, or customer to relinquish recyclables to a hauler only on the condition that the hauler deliver them to a qualifying recyclables processing center.

Subsection (c) creates a presumption that both single-stream and source-separated clean-fiber recyclables are designated to go to the Boulder County Recycling Center, a presumption the city manager can rebut by rule for source-separated clean fiber. Subsection (d) requires haulers to deliver compostable materials only to a facility certified under state composting regulations to produce compost or biogas, or to a facility that repurposes the material for a beneficial use such as animal feed if it meets federal, state, and local law; haulers must keep delivery receipts for five years and produce them to a customer or the city manager on request.

Container access is set separately in Section 6-12-5: haulers serving multi-unit customers through a centralized collection area must supply recycling containers at no added charge, sized to at least half the volume of the trash service, and residential haulers that require a particular container type must deliver it to the customer for free.