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Monday, May. 4, 2026

Does Colorado recycle less than 20% of the waste it produces?

Cassis Tingley, The Colorado Sun
yes

Colorado recycled just 15.7% of all of its municipal solid waste in 2024, the most recent year for which data is available. 

That rate, which does not include industrial waste, has hovered around 15% since dropping from 17.2% in 2018. Colorado is aiming to hit 35% in 2026 and 45% in 2036. Recycling rates are higher on the Front Range, which recycled 17.1% of its waste in 2024, compared with the rest of the state, whose rate was 13.7%. The national municipal recycling rate was 32.1% in 2018, according to federal environmental authorities. 

Cardboard was the most common recycled material, followed by yard trimmings and paper. 

Colorado produced almost 6.8 million tons of municipal waste in 2024. Of that, roughly 5.7 million tons went into landfills, 781,000 tons were recycled and 282,000 tons were composted. 

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