Break out the noisemakers and champagne – for the first time in decades, we’ve succeeded in passing recycling legislation at the state level! The combination of a liberal majority in both houses and the hard work of Eco-Cycle and many other members of the Colorado Association for Recycling (CAFR) resulted in the banning of used motor oil, lead-acid batteries and whole tires from landfills, beginning July 2007. Nearly every other state in the union banned these materials from their landfills years ago, so we figured it was time Colorado’s state legislators place a landfill ban on something – anything! – and change the rules about what is and is not acceptable in a landfill.
Modern landfills must be built with “protective” plastic liners, but no liner is invincible, and even the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concludes liners will eventually crack or otherwise allow the landfill’s contaminated liquid contents to seep into surrounding soil and water. Given this grave consequence and the developed recycling infrastructure in Colorado for oil, batteries and tires, it’s a very basic precautionary measure to ban these substances from landfills, and to do otherwise would simply be irresponsible. This new law will not only help protect our soil and water, but it will promote recycling of precious resources and support recycling businesses.
What will happen to motor oil, tires and batteries
The bill (Senate Bill 141) passed unanimously through both the Senate and the House. It bans residentially-generated waste oil, lead-acid batteries and whole waste tires from being disposed of in landfills, on the ground or in the water anywhere in Colorado, and recommends that these items be taken to a facility engaged in the collection or recycling of these materials. Landfills may dispose of processed tires, and they may still collect oil, tires and batteries to be taken for proper disposal (recycling). There will be a $10 refundable deposit on lead-acid batteries to ensure that a core is returned when a battery is purchased. Any violation is considered a petty offense and punishable by up to $100 in fines. Waste haulers must notify their customers that these materials are no longer accepted for disposal and that they must be taken to a proper collection or recycling facility. Landfills accepting only tires, known as tire monofills, are unfortunately exempted from this ban.
House Bill 1256 Failed
All of our efforts for recycling legislation were not successful in 2005. A second bill (House Bill 1256) was created to set a recycling goal for the state and provide funding to achieve that goal. These funds would have supported recycling and composting infrastructure and equipment (such as drop-off centers, material processing facilities, compactors, balers, and the like), education, and integrated planning at municipal, regional and state levels. These are activities that most other states have funded for decades to achieve the significantly higher recycling rates they enjoy. The bill died after making its way through the House and nearly all the way through the Senate. We are pleased with our progress despite the defeat as no recycling bill has even made it out of its originating committee in many, many years. The success came in establishing relationships with legislators and educating them about our concerns.
TABOR was the primary obstacle to HB 1256’s passage, as new monies collected to support recycling would have triggered a tax refund which, in all the twisted complexity of TABOR, would have come out of funds for higher education. CAFR is supporting Referenda C&D, a bi-partisan compromise on this November’s ballot intended to suspend TABOR restrictions on the collection of new funds for five years (read more about TABOR on page 1.)
Most other states have already adopted rules to keep oil, batteries and tires out of their landfills plus many more items, including large appliances and yard waste. These states are now moving on to examining rules about the disposal of electronic waste like computers, cell phones and DVD players. We were successful in 2005 in changing the rules in Colorado, and we hope it is the first of many new rules that will reflect the true inefficiencies of wasting and polluting and encourage investments in recycling.
