Boulder, CO Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)

Section 6-12-4(b) of the Boulder Revised Code sets the minimum service every residential trash hauler operating in the city must provide at least every other week: unlimited recyclables, a minimum of thirty-two gallons of compostables, three paper or compostable bags of leaves, and three bundles of branches no larger than three feet by six feet and tied with twine or compostable material. Bags and bundles of compostables must be placed adjacent to the compost container on collection day, and the hauler collects them curbside or in the alley, whichever it already uses for trash pickup, per Subsection (c).

This yard waste allowance rides along with the base unit of service, which caps at thirty-two gallons of trash; haulers may charge any amount for that base unit and, separately, a flat periodic fee that cannot exceed the base charge, itemized on the bill. Haulers may charge extra for compostables collected beyond the Section 6-12-4(b) minimums, but at no more than seventy-five percent of the price of an equivalent volume of trash service, under Subsection (d)(4). The rule sits inside Chapter 12, Trash, Recyclables and Compostables Collection, which also requires haulers to file an annual tonnage report with the city manager by January 31 for the prior year, per Section 6-12-4(a), and to route single-stream and source-separated recyclables to the Boulder County Recycling Center absent a city manager exemption, per Section 6-12-6(c).

Nothing in the chapter stops a hauler from adopting its own safety rules or charging special pricing for large or unusual items, per Subsection (f).