DENVER'S RECYCLING & COMPOSTING LAW, EXPLAINED
URCO is Denver's law requiring composting and recycling at businesses and buildings. Here's what it means for your property, in plain English, and how Melly's Recycling gets you ready.
What is Denver's URCO ordinance?
Twelve questions. Two minutes. Know if you're compliant.
It's Denver's law, known as URCO or Initiated Ordinance 306, requiring composting and recycling service across the city. Denver voters approved it in 2022 and it took effect September 1, 2026.
The goal is to move Denver from under 30 percent of waste diverted from the landfill toward 70 percent by 2032. For property owners, that means composting and recycling are no longer optional. They are required, alongside your trash.
What is the Universal Recycling
and Composting Ordinance?
Who has to comply with URCO?
The ordinance covers food businesses, hotels, apartment and condo buildings with eight or more units, and permitted events. Townhomes and rowhomes with a Denver Solid Waste account are not covered.
Hotels.
Composting and recycling for guests and back-of-house.
Restaurants, cafes, and licensed food establishments must offer composting and recycling.
Multifamily
buildings.
What are the fines for not complying?
Citations run $150 for a first offense, $500 for a second, and $999 for a third and each one after. Every continuing day counts as a separate offense, so the total climbs fast.
The point isn't fear, it's timing. Getting compliant costs a fraction of a single week of penalties.
How do I comply with URCO?
The fastest path is to let one company handle all of it. Melly's Recycling is a compliance company, not a hauler. We build your Waste Diversion Plan, install your signage, run your bilingual education, calculate your capacity, and keep the records and reporting current.
You get one point of contact and a property that passes inspection. We're named after my mom, and we run on one rule she taught me: you finish what you started.