Statewide waste diversion data collection program

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment recycling grant programs are implementing a new waste diversion data collection program for local governments in Colorado. The Municipal Measurement Program (MMP) is a program assessment and planning tool that is free and easy for local governments to use.

• It benefits municipalities and counties by providing decision-making tools and program performance, benchmarking, and recommendation reports that can boost waste diversion capacity and success.
• In turn, the launch of this new measurement program will provide the State of Colorado with a reliable means of measurement, a critical big-picture perspective of waste diversion activities, and the capacity to identify opportunities where we as a state can improve.
• The recycling grant programs encourage all municipalities, counties, and solid waste districts in Colorado to participate in the MMP.

  Learn more about MMP

The statewide Recycling Resources Economic Opportunity (RREO) program and Front Range Waste Diversion (FRWD) program have contracted with the Colorado recycling nonprofit Eco-Cycle to determine gaps in baseline recycling data throughout the state. Municipalities and counties who enter their data into the MMP surveys will help to bridge these identified data gaps and provide a more complete understanding about how Colorado as a whole recycles its discarded resources. View the Eco-Cycle Front Range Waste Diversion baseline assessment on the FRWD webpage.

  Eco-Cycle Front Range Waste Diversion baseline assessment

The MMP is hosted in Re-TRAC Connect, a web-based software system developed by Emerge Knowledge Design, Inc. The program is free to use for municipal government agencies and is now collecting data for 2021. Historical data can be entered for previous reporting years dating back to 2014. On average, the MMP program assessment surveys take 90 minutes to complete. Once the surveys are complete, municipalities will unlock a suite of program performance, benchmarking, and recommendation reports.

Since this data is so important to developing a holistic view of waste diversion efforts and next steps for communities to contribute to Colorado’s waste diversion goals, all new local government recycling grant contracts will require grantees to enter information about their community waste diversion efforts in the MMP surveys. In addition to the standard surveys provided by ReTRAC Connect, the FRWD board of directors has commissioned an additional MMP survey called the Colorado Community Recycling Report (CCRR) to address some specific data gaps uncovered by the recent Eco-Cycle data study. This survey asks communities about their roll-off services and special event collection for a spectrum of discards ranging from electronic waste to construction and demolition (C&D) materials to scrap metal.

Next steps

Municipalities and counties

• Join the MMP or research its resources.
• If you are a municipality and need help gathering the data, please consult the Guide to Participating in the MMP (Municipality).
• If you are a county or a regional solid waste management district and need help, please consult the Guide to Participating in the MMP (County).
• Request technical support for completing the surveys.
• Learn more about CDPHE recycling grant programs.

Watch a video showing how to complete the surveys