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Help & SupportChapter 6-12: Trash Hauling30
The city council finds that a significant reduction of the volume of solid waste and a corresponding increase in the volume of recyclable materials generated by citizens and businesses in the city would benefit the public welfare by reducing the consumption of important, non-renewable natural resources, as well as the amount of land required for disposal of solid waste in landfills, thereby helping to extend the longevity of these valuable non-renewable natural resources and to allow land to be used for purposes other than the disposal of solid wastes. The intent of the city council in enacting this chapter is to decrease the amount of solid waste and increase waste reduction and recycling practices by the citizens of and businesses located in the city.
The following terms used in this chapter have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
"Compostable materials" means materials from any residential or commercial source that have been completely segregated from garbage by the generator for the purpose of such materials being composted or otherwise processed through natural degradation into soil amendment, fertilizer or mulch.
"Garbage" means "trash" as defined in section 6-3-2, "Definitions," B.R.C. 1981, excluding recyclable materials and compostable materials which have been separated for collection.
"Hauler" means any person in the business of collecting, transporting or disposing of garbage for another, for a fee, or for no fee in the city.
"Multi-family customer" means the occupants, taken together, of a residential building or set of residential buildings that uses a collective, common system for the collection of garbage generated by the occupants.
"Periodic garbage collection" means the regular collection of garbage from single-unit or multi-unit dwellings, on a schedule of not less than once every calendar month.
"Recyclable materials" means any materials that are designated by the city manager by regulation which may include newspaper, magazines, sorted mail and office paper, cardboard, paperboard, telephone books, loose paper, glass containers, plastic containers, steel cans, aluminum cans and scraps, reusable clothing and household items, or anything else discarded from a residential or commercial source that have been completely segregated from garbage for the purpose of diverting such materials from landfills.
"Recyclables processing center" means a facility that sorts, packages, and otherwise prepares recyclable materials for sale.
"Residential customer" means every occupant of a residential building or set of residential buildings who receives periodic garbage collection service, and who does not use a collective, common system for the collection of garbage generated by the occupants.
(Ordinance No. 7172 (2001))
(a) The following persons are exempt from the provisions of this chapter:
(1) Any person that transports only the garbage which that person generates.
(2) A charitable organization that sporadically and infrequently collects, transports and markets recyclable materials solely for the purpose of raising funds for its charitable activities.
(3) A property owner or agent thereof who transports garbage, recyclable materials, or compostable materials left upon such owner's property, so long as such property owner does not provide such collection service for compensation for tenants on a regular or continuing basis.
(4) Landscaping contractors which produce and transport trash as defined in section 6-3-2, "Definitions," B.R.C. 1981, recyclable or compostable materials in the course of such occupations that is merely incidental to the particular landscaping work being per-formed by such contractors.
(5) Any person who transports only liquid wastes including, without limitation, sewage, sewage sludge, septic tank or cesspool pumpings, discarded or abandoned vehicles or parts thereof, discarded home or industrial appliances, materials used as fertilizers or for other productive purposes, household hazardous wastes, and hazardous materials as defined in the rules and regulations adopted by the United States Hazardous Materials Transportation Act, 49 U.S.C. section 5101 et seq.
(b) The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to the collection of garbage or recyclable materials by a hauler pursuant to a written contract in existence as of August 15, 2000, until such time as the then-existing term of such contract expires or is otherwise terminated.
(Ordinance No. 7172 (2001))
(a) Each hauler shall submit an annual report to the city manager of the weight in tons of garbage, recyclable materials and compostable materials collected by commodity and transported within the limits of the city. For loads that contain garbage or recyclable materials originating in part from within the limits of the city, and in part from outside the limits of the city, the reported quantity may be estimated by the hauler, and reported as an estimate. Reports shall be submitted for each year by January 31 of the succeeding year using a form or forms provided by the city manager. All such reports shall be treated as confidential commercial documents under the provisions of the Colorado Open Records Act, section 24-72-201 et seq., C.R.S.
(b) Each hauler that provides periodic garbage collection shall also provide to each residential customer and multi-family customer, at no additional charge, the collection of all of that customer's recyclable materials, either separated by material or commingled according to the hauler's directive. The collection of recyclable materials shall be provided no less frequently than every other week.
(c) Each hauler shall provide to each residential customer a base unit of periodic garbage collection of a maximum of thirty-two gallons of garbage and a minimum of thirty-two gallons of recyclable materials for each collection period. Each hauler may charge any amount for this base unit of service. Each hauler may additionally charge a flat periodic fee for the purposes of covering the combined fixed operational costs of collecting garbage and recyclable materials from a residential customer. This flat periodic fee may not exceed the charge for the base unit of service and shall be itemized separately on the billing statements of their customers. No hauler may charge less than a prorated portion of the unit charge for each additional and equal volume of garbage that may be collected from a customer during one or more collection periods. As provided in subsection (b) of this section, each additional level of recyclable materials collection service must be collected at no additional charge.
(d) Each hauler shall provide to all multi-family customers, collection service of all their recyclable materials at no additional charge beyond that agreed for garbage collection service. Recycling collection may be provided to multi-family residents either at their street curbs or at a common area.
(e) Nothing in this section shall be construed as prohibiting any hauler from also establishing rules regarding the safe maximum weight of containers as well as pricing for special collection of bulky items, or of bulky or non-containerized loose items, or of individual bags of garbage.
6-12-5 Containers for Recycling Collection.
The city has furnished residents with some recycling containers, for both single-family and multi-family recycling collection. It is not the city's intent to remove any recycling containers from residents, nor to continue to provide these containers over time. Haulers shall repair or replace any existing containers used by their residential customers or multi-family customers for recycling. At any time a hauler begins to offer recycling collection service that requires residential customers or multi-family customers to put their recyclable materials in new and different containers, the hauler shall deliver the new containers to these customers' houses. The city will furnish all trash haulers doing business in the city as of the effective date of this chapter with contact information, number of households in each multi-family complex, and current on-site contact for all the multi-family customers currently receiving recycling services through the city's Recycle Boulder program.
6-12-6 Disposition of Recyclable Materials.
(a) No person other than the person placing the recyclable materials for collection or that person's hauler shall take physical possession of any recyclable materials separated from garbage, set out in the vicinity of the curb, and plainly marked for recyclable material collection.
(b) Each residential customer or multi-family customer may relinquish recyclable materials to a hauler only on the condition that the hauler haul the recyclable materials only to a recyclables processing center designated by the customer. Each hauler shall haul all the customer's recyclable materials only to the recyclables processing center designated by the hauler's customer.
(c) In the absence of an express written designation to the contrary initiated by the customer, it shall be presumed that each residential customer or multi-family customer in the city has designated recyclable materials to be hauled to the recyclables processing center owned by the Boulder County Recycling and Composting Authority or its successor-in-interest. However, each customer may designate another recyclables processing center by notifying the hauler of that designation in writing. This written notification must be given at the initiative of the customer, not the hauler, and may not be written on a form furnished by the hauler.
The city will furnish to each hauler an educational brochure explaining the changes to the city's recycling programs, to be distributed by the haulers to all their residential customers on or before the effective date of this chapter. In addition, the city will, no more frequently than twice each calendar year, produce an educational flyer about recycling and waste reduction opportunities in the city. Haulers shall distribute this flyer, not to exceed one sheet of paper in length, to all their residential customers and multi-family customers, at no charge to the city. The city will consult with the haulers about the flyer prior to printing them.
6-12-8 Audits, Enforcement and Penalties.
(a) Each hauler shall make its records available for audit by the city manager at its principal place of business if it is located in the Denver-Boulder metropolitan area, or, if it is located elsewhere, at another place of business within the Denver metropolitan area during regular business hours when requested in order for the city to verify hauler compliance with the provisions of this chapter. Among other records, each hauler shall make available for review all customer invoices and similar documents reflecting actual pricing to customers. All such information shall be treated as confidential commercial documents under the provisions of the Colorado Open Records Act, section 24-72-201 et seq., C.R.S.
(b) No person shall violate or permit to be violated any of the requirements of this chapter.
(c) In addition to any other remedies prescribed by this chapter or by this code or other ordinance of the city, the city attorney, acting on behalf of the city council, may maintain an action for an injunction to restrain or correct any violation of this chapter.
6-12-9 Authority to Issue Regulations.
The city manager is authorized to adopt rules and regulations necessary in order to interpret or implement the provisions of this chapter.
30Enacted by Ordinance No. 7078.