Do Denver Apartments With 8+ Unit Buildings Have to Compost Under URCO?
- Ethan Babil
- Aug 16
- 4 min read
Yes. Under Denver's Universal Recycling and Composting Ordinance (URCO), multifamily properties with 8 or more units must provide on-site composting service to residents, alongside trash and recycling. Enforcement begins September 1, 2026, and the responsible party is the owner, rental license holder, association, or managing agent.
This post covers who is actually covered, how the 8-unit count works, which townhomes are excluded, what you have to put on site, and how capacity is measured under the ordinance.
Which Denver buildings are covered by the URCO composting requirement?
URCO applies to multifamily residential properties with 8 or more dwelling units. That includes apartment buildings, condominium buildings, student housing, senior and assisted living communities, and manufactured home communities.
If your property has 8 or more units and residents generate food waste, you are covered.
URCO came out of the Waste No More ballot initiative (Initiated Ordinance 306), which Denver voters approved by roughly 70 percent in November 2022. Denver City Council later passed Council Bill 25-0628 to implement it, setting the September 1, 2026 enforcement date. The city's overview lives at denvergov.org.
What counts as 8 units?
Count dwelling units, not buildings and not occupants.
A single 8-unit building is covered. So is a garden-style community of four 12-unit buildings sharing one enclosure. So is a 9-unit property where three units sit vacant. Vacancy does not reduce your unit count.
The practical test is simple. If your rental license, your certificate of occupancy, or your rent roll shows 8 or more dwelling units at the premises, plan for compliance.
Are townhomes and rowhomes excluded?
Some are. Townhomes and rowhomes that hold their own account with Denver Solid Waste Management are excluded from the multifamily requirement, because the city already services them directly as residential customers.
The distinction is who provides the service, not what the building looks like. If your townhome community is on city collection, unit by unit, you are outside the multifamily rule. If your community contracts privately for shared trash service and has 8 or more units, you are inside it.
This trips up a lot of operators with mixed portfolios. Check the account, not the architecture.
What does a covered multifamily property have to provide?
Three streams, available to every resident: trash, recycling, and composting.
Composting service has to be genuinely usable. That means containers residents can reach, clear labeling on every container, and accepted-materials signage in English and Spanish at minimum.
You also have to contract with a hauler licensed by the City and County of Denver. An unlicensed hauler does not satisfy URCO, no matter how good the price looks.
And you have to keep records. Service agreements, container inventory, education materials, and contamination follow-up all become your evidence file if an inspector shows up.
Who is the responsible party if the property gets cited?
URCO assigns responsibility to the property side, not the resident. Depending on the structure, the responsible party is the property owner, the rental license holder, the homeowners or condominium association, or the agent or management company acting on the owner's behalf.
If you manage the asset, assume the citation lands on you unless your management agreement clearly says otherwise. This is worth a conversation with ownership before September, not after.
How is composting capacity measured under URCO?
In gallons. Not pounds.
URCO defines service capacity by volume (§2.29). Your obligation is to provide enough weekly organics collection capacity, measured in gallons, that material does not overflow between pickups.
That matters because it changes how you buy service. Capacity is a function of two levers: container size and pickup frequency. A 96-gallon cart collected twice a week gives you 192 gallons of weekly capacity. A 64-gallon cart collected once gives you 64. Same property, very different compliance posture.
Weight has its place. Pounds diverted is a useful operating metric and a good number for an ESG report. But it is not the compliance measure. If a vendor quotes your URCO obligation in tons, they are measuring the wrong thing.
For a deeper walkthrough, see how URCO composting capacity is calculated in gallons.
What are the penalties for non-compliance?
Denver Municipal Code §48-47 sets an escalating citation ladder:
Citation | Fine |
First | $150 |
Second | $500 |
Third and each subsequent | $999 |
The number that gets people is §1-13: each day a violation continues is a separate offense. An unresolved problem does not sit still at $150.
Denver has signaled an education-first posture. A notice of violation typically comes with a window to cure before a citation issues. That window is your opportunity, and it is much shorter than the lead time you have right now.
Full detail: URCO fines in Denver, explained.
Frequently asked questions
Does a 7-unit building have to compost? Not under the 8-unit multifamily rule. Smaller properties should still confirm coverage, because other URCO provisions and future thresholds may apply.
Do residents have to compost? No. The obligation is on the property to provide access, labeling, and education. Resident participation is a contamination-management problem, not a legal one.
Can two nearby properties share compost containers? Shared service arrangements are workable in some configurations and can be a smart answer for small or space-constrained properties. The arrangement needs to be documented.
What happens if residents contaminate the compost? Contamination is common and manageable. Denver's composting infrastructure accepts food scraps and yard trimmings only, which means plastic bags, "compostable" serviceware, and paper products cause loads to be rejected. Signage, placement, and ongoing education are the fix.
Do we need a Waste Diversion Plan? Yes. URCO requires one, and Denver has not published an official form, which means the safest approach is a document broad enough to satisfy any reasonable interpretation of the rule.
Get your property URCO-ready before September 1
Melly's Recycling is a Denver URCO compliance company. We are not a hauler. We build the compliance side of the program: your Waste Diversion Plan, gallons-based capacity calculation, bilingual signage, staff and resident education, annual reporting, and the documentation file that holds up under inspection. When you need hauling service, we coordinate licensed Denver haulers through a sealed-bid process on your behalf.
You finish what you started.
Request your free URCO compliance audit and we will tell you exactly where your property stands, in gallons, before enforcement begins.
Melly's Recycling
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