Denver City Council’s Land Use, Transportation and Infrastructure committee will hear its second informational briefing this Tuesday on a proposal to expand waste services with fees based on volume of trash going into the landfill. City officials said the conversation will be around implementation.

The proposed program would charge residents in single-family homes and small multifamily buildings a different amount monthly based on the size of trash bin they need. The fee structure would charge $9 for a small trash bin, $13 for a medium one and $21 for a large one. Recycling and composting would be included, with weekly pickup services on top of other solid waste services.

Currently, weekly trash and bi-monthly recycling services are provided to residents for free, with an additional charge for composting. The new program would flip the narrative so residents pay based on what they send to the landfill as opposed to what they divert from it. The fees aren’t intended to generate new revenue, but rather to pay for the cost of the program.

Nancy Kuhn, Department of Transportation and Infrastructure spokesperson, said implementing the program would divert more trash from going to the landfill, “reducing greenhouse gas emissions released when trash in the landfill decomposes and taking direct action on climate change.” Residents are incentivized to properly recycle and compost what they can because larger landfill bins cost more monthly.

Kuhn highlighted that Denver’s waste diversion rate is 26% compared to the national average of 34%. This means only 26% of Denver’s waste is being kept out of landfills through recycling or composting. Locally, Boulder’s diversion rate is 53%, Loveland’s is 58% and Longmont’s is 41%. Seattle sits at 54%, Salt Lake City is 42% and Austin is 42%.

Residents have long been asking the city to implement weekly recycling pickup, and this program would bring the start of that. Kuhn noted that roughly 25% of what people throw in their trash bins is recyclable and 50% of it is compostable.

The city projects the program would cost just over $35 million to operate in 2022, with projections growing each year after. These are based on the city predicting 15% of people would use the 35 gallon trash cart, 40% would use the 65 gallon trash cart and 45% would use the 95 gallon trash cart. The city provides waste hauling services for about 180,000 households.

Kuhn added that achieving a 50% diversion rate in Denver would reduce greenhouse gas emissions as much as getting 600,000 cars off the road would. City Council won’t be voting on the program this week, as the city still needs to develop an ordinance with the proposal based on council feedback from informational briefings.