Colorado's EPR advisory board meets 28 October with three sessions left before CAA's first annual report and 2027 amendment window

What the advisory board is and what it is not

The board is a statutory adviser, not a regulator. C.R.S. 25-17-704 created it within CDPHE, with 13 voting members and 2 nonvoting members, all appointed by the department’s executive director. The nonvoting seats belong to the department and the PRO.

The 13 voting seats are fixed by type. Three go to local government: a municipality or city and county, a county, and a local government outside the Front Range. The others cover a materials recovery facility, a hauler, a non-profit, a packaging supplier that is not a producer, a recycled paper manufacturer, a business group, a retailers’ association, a compost facility, an environmental justice expert and a landfill or transfer station that runs a public recycling programme.

The statute sets a floor for how often it meets. It must hold annual meetings and can meet more often at the request of the chair or of at least seven voting members, and it is subject to the Colorado Sunshine Act and the Colorado Open Records Act. In practice it has met most months: the 28 October session is its ninth business meeting of 2026, by SPI’s count from CDPHE’s meeting list, with the March meeting cancelled.

Decisions sit elsewhere. CDPHE’s executive director approves or rejects plans and amendments, the Solid and Hazardous Waste Commission adopts rules, and section 25-17-705(7) says the PRO may not decide whether any person complies with the law. The board’s tool is the recommendation, made in public and on the record.

The department sets out the terms for the next session on its advisory board page.

What is scheduled between now and December

28 October: the business meeting. CDPHE’s page says the board will meet from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., online and in person. Up to 12 members of the public may attend in person after signing up through a form, online attendees register through Zoom, and the meeting will include Spanish interpretation¹.

The agenda. CDPHE has posted an agenda for 28 October in English and Spanish on its document system. SPI has not yet confirmed the agenda items, so this piece does not say which reports, rule packages or plan matters the board will take up on the day.

Length. At three hours, the 28 October slot is longer than the two that follow. CDPHE lists 18 November and 9 December from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., and its page shows no agenda link for either date as of 27 October.

Meeting record. For each 2026 meeting from January to August, CDPHE’s page lists a summary, an agenda and a recording, most with Spanish versions; 9 September shows an agenda and a recording. Materials before January 2025 are available by request to the programme, the page says.

Seats up for renewal. CDPHE’s members page shows one voting seat, the environmental justice seat held by GreenLatinos, with a term ending on 31 December 2026. Six more seats end on 31 December 2027 and six on 31 December 2028. The board page says there are no current vacancies.

Rules in the pipeline. CDPHE’s rulemaking page lists a proposed amendment to Section 1.8 of the solid waste rules on the producer dollar limit exemption, alongside an adopted Section 1.8 CPI rulemaking and the final Section 18 amendments. The commission’s hearings page lists no producer responsibility hearing for the rest of 2026, and SPI has not yet confirmed a hearing date for the proposed Section 1.8 change.

CAA’s own board. Separately, CAA’s Colorado page gave notice that the Colorado State Board for Circular Action Alliance would meet on 5 October 2026. That is CAA’s governing board, not the state advisory board, and the page does not set out its powers.

What the statute and Section 18 give the board to review

The board’s seven duties are listed in C.R.S. 25-17-704 and repeated on CDPHE’s page with their statutory references. Most of the work tied to the 2026 to 2030 plan is now in the review phase rather than the design phase. The table sets out each duty, where it comes from and when it next applies.

The annual report. Section 25-17-709(2)(a) says that before 31 March of the programme’s second year, and by 31 March each year after, CAA submits a progress report to the board covering the preceding calendar year. The board must review the report and forward it to the executive director, who posts it on CDPHE’s website.

Which year counts. The statute does not define the start of implementation. Section 25-17-705(5)(c)(II) requires CAA to begin implementing within six months of approval, and the approval date of 9 December 2025 puts that at 9 June 2026, by SPI’s calculation. CAA’s Colorado page lists implementation as early 2026. SPI has not yet confirmed whether CDPHE treats 2027 as the second year.

The amendment cycle. Section 25-17-705(6) lets CAA submit proposed amendments to the board each year for inclusion in the annual report. At least 60 days before the report deadline, CDPHE may ask CAA to amend the plan to address a specific concern, and at least 30 days before filing the report CAA must consult the board on any amendments.

Counting back from 31 March 2027. By SPI’s calculation, the 60-day mark falls on 30 January 2027 and the 30-day mark on 1 March 2027. Rule 18.1.3 applies C.R.S. 2-4-108 to deadlines that fall on weekends or holidays, and 30 January 2027 is a Saturday.

What an amendment does not do. Under section 25-17-705(6)(b), CAA keeps running the programme under the final plan while an amendment is pending, and a rejected amendment does not relieve that duty. Rule 18.5.3 says a routine annual dues update does not need a plan amendment, and that CAA may seek provisional approval of an urgent dues change, with CDPHE responding within 30 days.

When the report shows a gap. Section 25-17-709(3) lets the executive director require an amendment if an annual report shows the plan is not on track to meet its minimum collection, recycling or recycled content rates. That makes the first report the first formal test of the plan’s targets.

What the first annual report must contain

Section 25-17-709(2)(a) lists 17 elements for each report, and rule 18.5.5 adds that it must meet the statute’s requirements. Rule 18.1.5 requires an annual independent financial audit, with a copy filed with the report due before 31 March of the programme’s second year.

The table groups the 17 elements by what they let the board test. Each covers the preceding calendar year, so a report filed before 31 March 2027 would cover 2026, the first year in which dues were paid.

Exemptions. The same section requires a report, within two years after the final plan is submitted, to evaluate how the exemptions in section 25-17-713(1) affect programme performance and the dues schedule. SPI has not yet confirmed whether CDPHE expects that evaluation in the 2027 or the 2028 report.

The state’s own report. Section 25-17-709(2)(c) requires the executive director to compile the PRO and individual plan reports into an annual general report to the governor, presented to legislative committees under the SMART Government Act. SPI has not yet confirmed a 2027 hearing date.

Lubricant packaging. Interchange 360 runs the separate individual plan for automotive lubricant packaging, which CDPHE approved in September 2025 and which began in March 2026, CDPHE’s programme page says. Section 25-17-709(2)(b) requires each such plan to report to the board on a similar schedule, before 31 March of its second year.

Who sits at the table and what each side has at stake

The board’s members are organisations, and CDPHE’s members page names each one with its seat type and term. Their interests differ, because the plan pays some of them and charges others.

Haulers and processors. Republic Services holds the hauler seat to 2028, while Waste Connections holds the landfill with recycling seat and Bruin Waste Management the materials recovery facility seat, both to 2027. Section 25-17-705 requires reimbursement rates to cover 100% of net recycling service costs, and element (VIII) of the annual report requires the rate schedules and any rate disputes.

Local governments. The City of Grand Junction (municipality, to 2028), Saguache County (county, to 2027) and the City of Steamboat Springs (non-Front Range local government, to 2028) hold the three local seats, and Steamboat Springs is listed as vice-chair. The February 2026 committee briefing said local governments would be reimbursed for 100% of eligible net recycling costs.

Packaging and paper. TOPPAN Packaging Americas holds the packaging supplier seat and the Glass Packaging Institute the trade association seat, both to 2028; the American Forest and Paper Association holds the recycled paper seat to 2027. CAA’s plan sets 2030 recycled content targets of 40% for paper and paper packaging and 30% for glass packaging.

Retail, compost and community seats. Wolf Strategies holds the retailers’ association seat and A1 Organics the compost seat, both to 2027. A non-profit seat runs to 2028 and the environmental justice seat, held by GreenLatinos, to 31 December 2026.

Producers. Producers have no voting seat; CAA sits as a nonvoting member. The February briefing said 2,100 producers had registered with CAA Colorado as of January 2026, and their route into the board’s work is public comment and CAA’s reporting. SPI’s Packaging Buyers Database profiles list brands with Colorado-covered formats under PR-US-003.

The pinch point is a report deadline nobody has dated

The constraint on the next five months is a single undefined phrase. The annual report, the amendment window and the department’s 60-day request right all count from the second year of the programme’s implementation, the statute’s wording, and neither the statute nor Section 18 puts a calendar date on it.

If CDPHE reads 2026 as year one, the cycle starts now. The department’s request window would close on 30 January 2027, CAA’s consultation with the board would fall by 1 March and the report would land before 31 March 2027, by SPI’s calculation. The board’s three remaining 2026 meetings would then be the run-up.

If CDPHE reads implementation as starting from June 2026, the first report could slip to 2028. That would leave 2026 dues, the June 2026 outreach campaign and the first service agreements without a statutory report for more than a year. SPI has not yet confirmed CDPHE’s reading.

How Colorado's board compares with Oregon's and Minnesota's

Each of the three CAA states compared here has an appointed advisory body, but their size and timing differ. Oregon’s Recycling System Advisory Council has 17 voting members appointed by the Governor and two nonvoting legislators, and lists four vacancies. It advises DEQ and PROs on the statewide collection list and plans, reviewed a 2026 CAA plan amendment on responsible end markets, and meets next on 18 November 2026.

Minnesota’s board is earlier in its cycle. The MPCA’s Act page says the agency appoints a packaging EPR advisory board that gives input on needs assessments, reviews and comments on the stewardship plan and on PRO annual reports. Comments on Minnesota’s draft 2026 needs assessment close on 13 November, and the first plan comes in 2027 to 2028.

Colorado’s board is the only one of the three whose size and seat types are written into statute with a reserved place for an environmental justice expert. SPI’s report on Minnesota’s board of 21 October covers that body’s first work on mixed waste processing.

The longer calendar: 2027 to 2030

1 January 2027: eco-modulation bonus schedule. Section 25-17-709(1)(d) requires the executive director to develop the bonus schedule each year, for producers that meet benchmarks set by rule, after consulting CAA and the board. CAA must then reduce dues in line with it. CDPHE says the commission approved producer eco-modulation rules in Section 18.9 and dues factors in Section 18.2.7 in November 2025; SPI has not yet confirmed the adopted text.

30 June and 1 August 2027: the state’s costs. Section 25-17-715 requires CDPHE to tell CAA by 30 June each year what it spent the previous year, including on the board, and CAA then sends that amount from dues to the state treasurer. Rule 18.10 sets the annual reimbursement date at 1 August 2027 and each year after.

1 July 2027: the threshold. Section 25-17-713(2) requires the commission to adjust the USD 5 million revenue threshold by rule on 1 July each year, using the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood consumer price index. The 1 ton threshold is not indexed.

2028: schools and consumer costs. CAA’s amended plan begins reimbursing school recycling in 2028, with government buildings and public places before 2030 and hospitality and small businesses in 2030. The first consumer cost review also starts in 2028.

2029: needs assessment and second PRO. CAA must hire an independent third party, approved by the executive director, to update the needs assessment by 1 May 2029, with any change of scope by 15 April 2029. Rule 18.7.2 opens requests for an additional PRO from 1 January 2029.

2030: renewal. The plan covers 2026 to 2030, and section 25-17-705(4) requires updated plan proposals on 1 February every five years. If every review window ran to its limit, a proposal filed on 1 February 2030 would reach a decision on 13 December 2030, by SPI’s calculation.

The renewal plan will rest on the plan’s targets. CAA’s amended plan sets a total collection rate of 44% by 2030 and 59% by 2035, from 29% in 2022, and a recycling rate of 41% by 2030 and 55% by 2035, from 25%. CDPHE’s programme page projects the paper and packaging recycling rate rising from 25% to 58% by 2035 under the programme, and the plan projects about 570,000 tons collected and 530,000 tons recycled a year by 2030.