Town staff brief Erie council on statewide EPR recycling rollout and local impacts

Erie town staff on Feb. 3 told the council that Colorado's Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) program will change who pays for recycling and could reduce what some residents currently pay through HOA or hauler contracts. Staff asked council members to help communicate with homeowners associations and residents as the program is rolled out.

The presentation, led by Erica (staff) and Emma Marino, the town's sustainability and water-conservation specialist, reviewed the state law that created the program and how local residents and the town stand to benefit. "Extended producer responsibility or EPR...requires that companies that sell products and packaging to fund a statewide recycling system," Marino said. She noted that "producers first had to register with the state to identify that they were a producer of these materials and then begin to pay dues as a result of the materials that they create." The town identified Circular Action Alliance (CAA) as the producer responsibility organization coordinating statewide…