North Front Range Regional Wasteshed Coalition wins National Award

By MACY WEITZEL
Business Support III

Communications and Public Involvement Office
City of Fort Collins

The North Front Range Regional Wasteshed Coalition has earned the 2019 Outstanding Community or Government Program Award from the National Recycling Coalition.

This national award honors the unprecedented collaboration, cooperation, and visionary work of the project, which serves as a model for the rest of Colorado and stands out as a best practice throughout the country.

In 2024, the Larimer County Landfill is expected to reach capacity. In recognition of this fact, Loveland, Larimer County, Fort Collins, and Estes Park started working together in 2015 to determine what will come next, forming the North Front Range Regional Wasteshed Coalition.

Recognizing that infrastructure must meet the needs of an entire region, and is dependent on materials generated throughout that region, the coalition worked through the details of generating a Solid Waste Infrastructure Master Plan, which was adopted by the Larimer County Commissioners in December of 2018.

The adopted Master Plan calls for Larimer County to build:

• an improved recycling center
• a construction and demolition waste recycling facility
• a yard debris and food scrap composting system
• a new, state-of-the-art “last landfill ever” that will serve Northern Colorado long-term

This work has been formalized in an intergovernmental agreement among the parties, and each jurisdiction is now working to develop the policies unique to their communities to further implement the project. The planned infrastructure has the potential to recycle or compost over 40% of what is currently accepted at the County landfill.  Larimer County landfill-replacement funds will largely pay for the new facilities, minimizing the financial burden on taxpayers.

Find out more about the Regional Wasteshed Project at fcgov.com/wasteshed.