For the sixth consecutive year, the City of Loveland has once again been named the leader in residential recycling, achieving a 58% recycling and composting rate in 2021. Loveland is the only municipality with a rate higher than 50%.
The honor puts Loveland ahead of second-place Longmont with a 42% residential recycling and composting rate. Boulder (37%), Golden (33%), and LaFayette (31%) round out the top five performing municipalities in this category.
“Loveland’s program has always focused on getting recyclable materials into the circular economy by making it easy for our residents to do so,” said Tyler Bandemer, City of Loveland solid waste superintendent. “Residents have eagerly adopted our recycling programs because of the accessibility, ease of use, and cost – from curbside recycling, Pay-as-You-Throw program, and volume-based pricing, to our Recycling Center that accepts over 25 items and sees more than 120,000 customers per year.”
The rankings are compiled annually by Boulder-based Eco-Cycle, a zero-waste advocacy group and one of the nation’s largest nonprofit recycling businesses, and the Colorado Public Interest Research Group (CoPIRG), a statewide nonprofit group that makes environmental policy recommendations. The two groups’ research results are contained in their annual publication, “State of Recycling and Composting in Colorado.”
The City also offers trash and recycling mobile app and webpage tools to discover recyclable items through the City or other ways to dispose of waste.
The report again shows that Loveland’s model continues to be successful, even as Colorado’s recycling rates remain around 16%. Loveland’s rate has been steady, varying between 58% to 61% for each of the past six years.
This year’s results were released during virtual events on America Recycles Day, Tuesday, November 15.