Avon Launches Educational Effort to Help Community

with New Recycling Mandates

Most residents are already in compliance with new ordinance

On September 27, 2022, the Avon Town Council passed Ordinance 22-13, which will require universal recycling for all residents, commercial entities and visitors in Avon starting on November 1, 2023. The ordinance requires all multi-family and commercial properties to register for recycling services with their waste hauler and separate recyclable materials from landfill-bound trash. Starting February 2023, the Town of Avon will begin an educational campaign to help Avon residents and businesses take steps towards compliance with the recycling regulations by the deadline of November 1, 2023. The ordinance can be found on the town’s website: www.avon.org and addresses new restrictions for different types of customers, as follows: 

1. Avon Residential Properties

1.1 Single Family or Duplex Residences:

If a single-family resident does not have access to a recycling service or does not wish to pay for the additional service, they must bring their recyclable materials to one of six free drop-off centers in Eagle County. The closest location for Avon residents is at 375 Yoder Avenue, just east of the Home Depot. This recycling option applies to any residential structure(s) that does not employ a dumpster or communal service for solid waste and or recyclable materials collection. .
  

1.2 Multifamily Residential Properties: 

The Town of Avon will identify all multifamily customer properties and offer educational guidance and implementation milestones so that compliance will be met prior to the November deadline. Homeowners and associations that arrange shared trash services for multi-family homes will be required to register and offer recycling services for their residents. Any residential structure(s) that employs a communal system for solid waste and or recyclable materials collection will be required to register with a hauler. 

2. Avon Commercial Properties

Avon’s commercial properties share the same requirements as multifamily residential properties. As such, the Town of Avon will provide all commercial properties with the same support so that compliance will be met prior to the November deadline. Commercial customers include any premises where a commercial, industrial, or institutional business or enterprise is undertaken, including, without limitation, retail shops and establishments, eating or drinking establishment, healthcare facilities, child daycare centers, public and private schools, professional and business offices, religious institutions, and public buildings and facilities.

The Town’s educational campaign will include a number of opportunities to meet with town staff to review plans for offering recycling services. In addition, there will be educational publications, both videos and social media, to help the community understand the recycling requirements and compliance deadline.

Recycling and waste reduction activities are well-suited for building a culture of sustainable behaviors for virtually everybody who visits, lives and works in Avon,” said Mayor Amy Phillips. “We know from staff research and the recent Business Outreach Survey that many businesses support a recycling ordinance in Avon and our local trash haulers have reported excellent recycling registration as well as good behavior and compliance with recycling requirements,” she continued. “With the existing culture around recycling, the Recycling Ordinance will help push our waste diversion efforts to the next level.”

Avon is the second town in Eagle County that has moved to enforce universal recycling, modeling it after the ordinance that the Town of Vail adopted in 2014. In the nine years since the ordinance was implemented, the waste diversion rate in Vail (the amount of waste that has been kept out of the landfill as a percentage of total waste) rose from 9 percent to 35 percent, outpacing the national average of 32 percent and state average of 15 percent. Avon hopes to achieve a similar trajectory of success through the new ordinance. 

All Avon residents and businesses are encouraged to reach out to Sustainability Coordinator Charlotte Lin at clin@avon.org with any questions or concerns.