Denver's construction-debris recycling rule is now live
The biggest change for anyone pulling a Denver permit this fall took effect quietly on September 1, 2026. Denver's Universal Recycling and Composting Ordinance — the voter-approved "Waste No More" measure that passed with about 70 percent of the vote in November 2022 — now applies to construction and demolition debris. Community Planning and Development laid out the details in its August 17 blog post and on the city's Construction & Demolition Universal Recycling Requirements page.
Here is what actually triggers it. A project is covered if it is new construction, an addition, or a demolition larger than 500 square feet, or an interior remodel or tenant finish larger than 2,500 square feet. It applies to residential and commercial permits alike. Standalone trade permits — electrical, plumbing, mechanical, roofing, fire alarm, fire sprinkler, boiler and A/C — are not covered.
If your project is covered, two things happen before the permit is issued:
- A Waste Diversion Plan has to be submitted and approved through the city's Green Halo system.
- A fully refundable performance security deposit has to be paid. It is separate from your permit fees, and the permit does not issue until it clears.
The performance target is to divert at least 50 percent of debris by weight across three covered materials, by recycling or reuse. Soil does not count — this is about building debris, not sitework. After the project is finaled, the contractor has 60 days to upload weight tickets and diversion documentation to Green Halo and submit the plan for final. Whatever the city approves of the deposit comes back to the permit holder by check. If the 50-percent target or the three-material count genuinely isn't achievable on your site, there is a modification request — but it has to be filed before the permit is issued, not after.
One relief that matters: this applies to applications submitted for the first time on or after September 1. Projects already in plan review, already permitted, or already under construction do not need a Waste Diversion Plan. The city paused C&D compliance documentation until this date after Council revised the criteria on September 15, 2025.
I-70 closes over Kipling for two full weekends
CDOT announced on September 14 that it will fully close I-70 at the Kipling Street bridges in Wheat Ridge for two extended weekends to finish critical bridge repairs. Each closure runs up to 83 hours:
- Westbound: 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18 through 6 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22.
- Eastbound: 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25 through 6 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 29.
- Backup weekend if weather interferes: Oct. 2 through Oct. 6.
Kipling Street itself is closed in both directions at the interchange with no I-70 access, and the detour runs West 44th Avenue to Ward Road to West 58th Avenue/Ralston Road to Wadsworth. CDOT is warning of delays of 30 minutes or more. If you have a material delivery, a dumpster swap or a concrete pour scheduled in Wheat Ridge, Arvada, Golden or northwest Lakewood on either of those weekends, move it now.
I-270 clears its environmental review after six years
CDOT and the Federal Highway Administration published the Final Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision for the I-270 Corridor Improvements project on September 8, closing out a six-year review. The corridor is about six miles of I-270 between I-25 and I-70 in Adams County, built between 1965 and 1970 and now carrying more than 100,000 vehicles a day.
The selected alternative keeps two general-purpose lanes and adds one express lane in each direction that can carry transit, replaces 12 aging bridges, rebuilds the Vasquez Boulevard interchange and adds a pedestrian overpass. CDOT anticipates construction phasing beginning in fall 2026. A telephone town hall is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 6 at 6 p.m., with calls going out to nearly 133,000 residents. For homeowners in Commerce City, north Denver and Adams County, this is a multi-year haul-route and traffic story starting now.
145 acres at Lowry go out to developers
The Colorado Community College System issued a request for proposals on September 10 seeking a master developer for its 145-acre Lowry campus, which straddles the Denver and Aurora line. CCCS has held the property since Lowry Air Force Base closed in 1994, and the RFP calls the site one of the largest remaining infill redevelopment opportunities in the Denver/Aurora region. Both the Community College of Aurora and the Community College of Denver hold classes there.
Nothing about this changes a homeowner's project this year. It matters over a longer horizon: infill of that scale reshapes what surrounding Lowry, Montclair and northwest Aurora homes are worth, and it eventually pulls trades and inspectors toward one corner of the map.
Permit-desk notes
Two things worth keeping in view while you plan a fall or winter project:
- Denver's permitting is governed by Executive Order 151, which caps city review time at 180 days and triggers cross-agency coordination at 150 days to force a decision inside that window. The Denver Permitting Office's first-year report credits one-and-done concept site plan review with cutting average review cycles from more than three to 1.37.
- Denver's Planning Board meets Sept. 16; Landmark Preservation Commission is Oct. 6. If your block is inside a historic district, those calendars are the ones that decide your schedule.
Every jurisdiction in the metro runs its own counter, its own fees and its own review clock. We keep the current rules for each one in our Denver metro permit guide.
What this means for your project
Three practical takeaways from this week:
- Ask whether your Denver project trips the 500 / 2,500 square-foot line. A garage conversion, a bump-out addition, a detached ADU or a tear-down almost certainly does. A typical basement finish or a single-room kitchen remodel usually does not — but a whole-floor gut of a larger home can. If it does, your contractor owes you a Waste Diversion Plan and a deposit line on the estimate before the permit issues. Ask to see both in writing.
- Get the deposit named in the contract. It is refundable and it goes back to the permit holder, not necessarily to whoever wrote the check. Decide up front who fronts it and who gets the refund, and put it on paper. A bid that says nothing about the Waste Diversion Plan for a covered project is a bid drawn before September 1 — price it again.
- Build the road work into your schedule, not around it. Two 83-hour I-70 closures and months of I-270 phasing change what a delivery window looks like on the west and north sides of the metro. If you are planning an addition or a large project, the crew's drive time is part of the price.
If you are budgeting for next spring, our Denver remodeling pricing page has current ranges by project type, and the basement finishing calculator will get you to a real number for the most common project we see. Questions about which side of the new debris rule your project lands on? Call BH Builders at (720) 980-3913 and we'll walk the scope with you.
Keep reading from the BH Builders blog
There's a new line item on Denver permits now, and the first place most homeowners will hear about it is a surprise on a bid. Ask about the waste diversion plan before you sign, not after.DT · Owner, BH Builders
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