HB 24-1449

HB 24-1449, titled "Environmental Sustainability Circular Economy," is a Colorado bill that aims to promote sustainable waste management practices. It replaces existing programs with a new initiative called the Colorado Circular Communities Enterprise, which will provide grants and support for local governments, businesses, schools, and universities working towards a circular economy. The bill also adjusts fees on operators of solid waste disposal sites to fund this new enterprise. This means that starting July 1, 2024, these operators will pay different rates based on their location to help finance the transition to more sustainable waste management practices. The bill has been signed into law and is now effective as of July 1, 2024.

Official Summary

The act repeals the pollution prevention advisory board and the pollution prevention advisory board assistance committee when the act takes effect, repeals the recycling resources economic opportunity program on October 1, 2025, and repeals the front range waste diversion enterprise and replaces it with the Colorado circular communities enterprise (enterprise). The enterprise, in merging and modernizing the purposes of the recycling resources economic opportunity program and the front range waste diversion enterprise, awards grants and other funding and provides technical assistance to local governments, nonprofit and for-profit businesses, public and private schools, and institutions of higher education throughout the state that pursue a circular economy for waste management, including waste diversion and aversion. The act also creates the statewide voluntary sustainability program to support businesses engaging, or looking to engage, in sustainability efforts. Under current law, user fees are imposed on operators of attended solid waste disposal sites (operators) to finance the recycling resources economic opportunity program and the front range waste diversion enterprise. The act applies those fees to the enterprise, requiring operators of sites located outside of the front range to pay a fee of either 2 or 4 cents per load transported for disposal and requiring operators of sites located in the front range, between July 1, 2024, and December 31, 2024, to pay a fee of 74 cents per cubic yard per load transported for disposal and, on and after January 1, 2025, to pay a fee of 78 cents per cubic yard per load transported for disposal. APPROVED by Governor May 17, 2024 EFFECTIVE July 1, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

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