Trash Tax

The trash tax was initiated by the city in 1988 to fund waste reduction activities, in particular at that time, new curbside recycling collection. Trash tax is an occupation tax on trash haulers serving Boulder. Most trash haulers pass the tax on to customers in their trash service bills

Tax rate history

In 1994, voters passed a ballot measure to raise the trash tax
rates and also give City Council the authority to further increase
rates up to a set maximum ($3.50 per month for households and $0.85 per cubic yard of trash for businesses and multifamily units that use centralized dumpsters).

Trash tax rates were raised again in 1998 and temporarily in 2005 to fund citywide programs to improve energy efficiency andconservation in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Rates were lowered in 2006 after voters approved the Climate Action Plan tax to fund energy and greenhouse gas reduction efforts.

Zero waste goal

Community-wide efforts to reduce the amount of waste going to landfills gained momentum in 2006 when City Council adopted a resolution to make Boulder a zero waste community and approved the Master Plan for Waste Reduction, which created a roadmap for attaining zero waste.

Tax uses

Over the years, the trash tax has funded a variety of waste reduction activities, including most recently, curbside compost collection ( See the Curbside Composting info sheet ) and the switch to single-stream recycling

The trash tax has also funded the infrastructure (facilities and land) that enables and supports waste reduction activities. For example, in 2009, the city agreed to fund a portion of a new hazardous material management facility, in partnership with Boulder County, Broomfield, Louisville, Lafayette, Longmont, Erie and Superior.

Also in 2009, city purchased land and buildings at 6400 Arapahoe Ave. to permanently relocate the Eco-Cycle office, Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials (CHaRM), and the Center for ReSource Conservation’s ReSource used building materials donation and sales yard . The purchase will be paid for by the trash tax, which was increased to the voter-allowed maximum effective Oct. 1, 2009