Written by L. Park, Sustainability
Procurement teams that operate in multiple western states often discover, several months into a project, that the recycling and reporting rules they assumed were standard are in fact wildly different across state lines. We deal with these differences every day and have started maintaining an internal cheat sheet — here is the public version.
Colorado.
Colorado passed the Producer Responsibility Program for Statewide Recycling Act (HB22-1355) in 2022. It establishes an EPR (extended producer responsibility) system for packaging that is being phased in over the next several years. For corrugated, the practical impact is mostly downstream — producers are funding recycling infrastructure rather than imposing new requirements on individual buyers — but if you sell into Colorado retail, you should be aware of it.
Wyoming.
Wyoming has no statewide EPR program and very few corrugated-specific recycling mandates. Municipal recycling is patchwork and often relies on commercial haulers. For procurement teams this means freedom but also less infrastructure — if you generate volume in Cheyenne or Casper you may need to ship empty corrugated out of state to find an efficient buyer.
New Mexico.
No state EPR for packaging as of writing, but Albuquerque and Santa Fe both have municipal mandatory recycling programs that include corrugated. Reporting is straightforward and the local OCC market is healthy.
Utah.
Utah has no state EPR program. Salt Lake City has a curbside recycling program but commercial generators are largely on their own. Several mills in the region buy OCC at competitive prices, which keeps the secondary market active.
Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma.
No state EPR for packaging. Recycling infrastructure varies enormously by city. We run regular routes through Kansas City and Wichita and have partners for Lincoln, Omaha, and Tulsa.
Why the patchwork matters for buyers.
If you are running a multi-state operation, the cheapest place to generate empty corrugated is usually the place with the most efficient secondary market — not necessarily the place with the strictest mandates. Colorado and New Mexico, in our experience, have the cleanest path from generator to reuse, mostly because the market for reclaimed boxes is older and more developed in both states.