Grant Summaries

ITAD Electronics Recyclers, LLC

• Project Title: Warehouse and Operations Expansion

• Date Awarded: 1/6/2026

• Category: Recycling, Reuse/Repair/Recovery, Collection/Hauling

• Amount Awarded: $50,000

• Timeframe: 6 months

• Region: Silver Cliff, Salida, Buena Vista, and Fairplay communities

As the only certified electronics recycling company in Southern Colorado, ITAD Electronics Recyclers provides pickup and drop-off services as well as community recycling drives. ITAD currently holds low-to-zero cost drives in the Silver Cliff, Salida, Buena Vista, and Fairplay communities. Grant funds will be used to purchase equipment to support ITAD’s business expansion, and increase current diversion rates.

Purchases: Electric forklift with battery and charger, pallet jack, dock plate

Compost Queen

• Project Title: City of Fort Collins Food Waste Pilot Program

• Date Awarded: 12/5/2025

• Category: Composting

• Amount Awarded: $50,000

• Timeframe: 6 months

• Region: Fort Collins

Compost Queen is an established community-driven alternative to landfilling organic material and the only operational, permitted facility to accept and divert food waste in Northern Colorado. They have partnered with the City of Fort Collins’ Food Waste Program to expand organics recycling and collect data for the city to properly evaluate a future organics facility that will extend the life of the new landfill. Funding will support the purchase of a truck, which will allow Compost Queen to expand their collection to add 600 residential households and 20 commercial accounts to their customer base. 

Purchases: Truck 

City of Steamboat Springs 

• Project Title: Haymaker Golf Course Recycling Project 

• Date Awarded: 11/20/2025

• Category: Recycling

• Amount Awarded: $15,870

• Timeframe: 6 months

• Region: City of Steamboat Springs

The project will enhance recycling infrastructure at the Haymaker Golf Course, a municipal facility serving a rural resort community in Northwest Colorado. Grant funding will support the purchase and installation of dual recycling and trash receptacles throughout the course, making proper waste disposal more convenient for patrons. Expanding recycling access will decrease the volume of solid waste sent to landfills and strengthen the city’s ongoing waste reduction and sustainability efforts.

Purchases: Dual purpose recycling and trash receptacles

Town of Limon

• Project Title: Additional Containers for Cardboard Recycling

• Date Awarded: 12/1/2025

• Category: Recycling

• Amount Awarded: $8,364

• Timeframe: 6 months

• Region: Lincoln County

This project will assist the town in their long-term goal of reducing cardboard in the landfill by purchasing bins to collect and store cardboard at schools to help increase recycling participation. 

Purchases: Recycling bins

EcoAction Partners

• Project Title: Plastic Film Recycling Program

• Date Awarded: 10/1/2025

• Category: Recycling, Collection/Hauling, Community Engagement/Outreach/Education

• Amount Awarded: $16,519

• Timeframe: 6 months

• Region: San Miguel and Ouray counties

This project establishes a central storage and aggregation point for businesses in San Miguel and Ouray counties to deposit plastic film. Most businesses do not have adequate space to store plastic film. This site serves as a much needed central storage hub, preventing the material from being sent to the landfill when storage space runs out. The plastic film will be collected and picked up by the Colorado Circular Transportation Network (CTN), a material collection program that provides no-cost hauling services to rural communities. All materials collected will become feedstock for new products, thus contributing to the circular economy in Colorado. 

Purchases: Shipping container, outreach materials, communication coordination

Green for Green

• Project Title: Statewide Collection Vehicle Expansion

• Date Awarded: 11/25/2025

• Category: Collection/Hauling, Recycling

• Amount Awarded: $43,600

• Timeframe: 6 months

• Region: Statewide

This project diverts valuable materials found in cannabis packaging, such as plastic, metal, glass, and fiberboard, from landfills. Funding will support the purchase of a truck capable of transferring and hauling cannabis packaging for Green for Green to expand their fleet, support their operations, and reduce waste.

Purchases: Truck

TRU Community Care

• Project Title: TRU Thriftshop, New Truck Purchase

• Date Awarded: 9/3/2025

• Category: Distribution, Collection/Hauling, Reuse/Repair/Recovery 

• Amount Awarded: $50,000

• Timeframe: 6 months

• Region: Boulder County, Front Range

This project diverts valuable materials, such as furniture, clothing, and household items, from landfills. Funding will support the purchase of a truck capable of transferring goods for Tru Community Care to support their operations, keep usable goods in circulation, and reduce waste. 

Purchases: Truck

City of Glenwood Springs

• Project Title: The City of Glenwood Springs Aggregate Recycling Improvement Project

• Date Awarded: 7/7/2025

• Category: Recycling, Community Engagement/Outreach/Education

• Amount Awarded: $39,000

• Timeframe: 6 months

• Region: City of Glenwood Springs, Garfield County

This project improves the City of Glenwood Spring’s landfill aggregate recycling program. The program recycles items such as concrete, porcelain, masonry, and crushable rock for public sale, keeping this material out of the landfill. The market for recycled aggregate materials remains new and underdeveloped, limiting consistent demand. Grant funds will support equipment for aggregate processing, upgrades to the aggregate recycling collection area, and marketing and outreach to target residents and businesses to build the aggregate recycling program.  

Purchases: Rock bucket, rubber barriers, outreach/marketing

GutItGroup Demolition

• Project Title: Equipment Acquirement To Expand Sustainability Practices

• Date Awarded: 7/7/2025

• Category: Remanufacturing/Upcycling, Reuse/Repair/Recovery, Collection/hauling

• Amount Awarded: $50,000

• Timeframe: 6 months

• Region: Denver Metro, Front Range

This project salvages reusable items such as cabinetry, fixtures, and metal components during demolition thereby diverting valuable materials from the landfill. Funding will support expansion of deconstruction services for Gut It Group Demolition’s transition from ad hoc recycling to a structured reuse and recovery workflow.

Purchases: Trailer, truck, truck topper, material recovery equipment

iRecycleHere

• Project Title: Community Outreach Campaign for Secure Data Destruction

• Date Awarded: 4/9/2025

• Category: Recycling, Collection/Hauling

• Amount Awarded: $50,000

• Timeframe: 6 months

• Region: Denver Metro

This project will collect and process electronic waste for reuse, repair, repurpose, and recycling, as well as increasing community participation through outreach and education. Grant funds will support equipment purchases for data sanitization and destruction, reducing the public’s concern about data safety when disposing e-waste.  

Purchases: Hard drive and multimedia shredder, data sanitation system, heavy duty carts

Don’t Trash Glass, LLC 

• Project Title: Expanding a Circular Story for Glass in the Denver Metro Area

• Date Awarded: 9/24/2025

• Category: Community Outreach/Engagement/Education, Collection/Hauling, Recycling 

• Amount Awarded: $28,526

• Timeframe: 6 months

• Region: Denver Metro, Denver County

Don’t Trash Glass provides internal and external containers for easy and safe collection of glass in both “front of house” and “back of house” operations within the service industry. Don’t Trash Glass will purchase high-quality containers for collection and hauling to ensure program efficiency by decreasing contamination from the moment each glass bottle is discarded and help sustain operations of the program long-term. With the additional materials, Don’t Trash Glass aims to expand their program to new regions, with a goal to increase their market by 100 customers.

Purchases: Outdoor recycling containers, indoor recycling containers, multilingual educational materials and signage

The Toy, Game, and Puzzle Library (TGPL) 

• Project Title: Project Re-Play - Toy, Game, Puzzle Library Repair, Reuse, Re-Play Project

• Date Awarded: 9/3/2025

• Category: Reuse/Repair/Recovery, Distribution, Source Reduction

• Amount Awarded: $24,500

• Timeframe: 6 months

• Region: Fort Collins, Larimer County

Toys, games, and puzzles are difficult to recycle due to their mixed material therefore an estimated 80% of these items end up in landfills. The Toy, Game, and Puzzle Library (TGPL) collects items for reuse, repair, and repurpose for redistribution. Their operation and distribution space is donated and grant funding will support infrastructure improvement and equipment purchases that will allow for increased donation, repair, and distribution. 

Purchases: Construction services, electrical, shelving and storage, computer system and kiosk island, work tables, workstations, 3D printer materials, soldering station, sewing station, die-cutting tools, repair station upgrades, signage, outreach/publicity

Renegade Plastics 

• Project Title: Developing an End Market for Polypropylene PCR in Colorado

• Date Awarded: 10/1/2025

• Category: Recycling 

• Amount Awarded: $50,000

• Timeframe: 6 months 

• Area of State and Counties: Denver Metro

Renegade Plastic’s product offers a recyclable, non-toxic alternative suitable for many applications currently reliant on vinyl fabrics. Grant funding will support the purchase of an accelerated weathering chamber to evaluate the long-term durability of fabrics containing post-consumer recycled (PCR) content. Evaluation will verify performance standards and identify optimal PCR percentages, representing the final validation step before integrating polypropylene PCR into products manufactured at Renegade Plastic’s Colorado pilot production line.

Purchases: Accelerated weathering chamber

Town of Firestone

• Project Title: Firestone Tree Recycling Program Expansion 

• Date Awarded: 6/30/2025

• Category: Recycling, Source Reduction

• Amount Awarded: $50,000

• Timeframe: 6 months

• Region: Weld County

This project focuses on diverting organic material from landfills through the Town of Firestone’s urban forestry program by improving the management and reuse of locally generated wood waste. Grant funding will be used to purchase a high-capacity woodchipper, allowing the town to efficiently process tree debris into woodchips. The resulting material will be applied within town parks and made available to residents for reuse, extending the value of organic resources that would otherwise be discarded. 

Purchases: High-capacity wood chipper

Alpine Roots

• Project Title: Compost Delivery Fulfillment and Scaling 

• Date Awarded: 6/30/25

• Category: Composting

• Amount Awarded: $47,334

• Timeframe: 6 months

• Region: Larimer County, Front Range 

Alpine Roots will expand production of vermicompost, worm castings, and living soil blends to support sustainable agriculture along the Front Range. Grant funding will purchase equipment to scale operations, automate key processes, improve delivery efficiency, and ensure consistent, high-quality products.

Purchases: Delivery truck, dump trailer, hand pallet truck, soil mixer, concrete blocks, IBC totes (intermediate bulk containers)

Compass Community Collaborative School 

• Project Title: The Plastic Cycle: A Middle School Venture

• Date Awarded: 4/28/2025

• Category: Community Engagement/Outreach/Education

• Amount Awarded: $10,000

• Timeframe: 6 months

• Region: Larimer County

Compass Community Collaborative will create a course for middle school students focused on the environmental impact of plastic (polyethylene terephthalate or PET) and ways to recycle and reuse plastic generated in their community. Grant funds will be used to purchase supplies to set up a small-scale recycling space in the school’s design lab, allowing students to engage in hands-on learning and practical application.

Purchases: PET water bottle recycling supplies

Lucky to Ride

• Project Title: Expanding Youth Access to the Outdoor with Sustainable Transportation

• Date Awarded: 4/10/2025

• Category: Community Engagement/Outreach/Education, Reuse/Repair/Recovery, Collection/Hauling

• Amount Awarded: $50,000

• Timeframe: 6 months

• Region: Denver Metro

Lucky to Ride will collect, refurbish, and distribute donated bicycles to extend their lifespan and keep them in use. Grant funds will be used to purchase a van, enabling the organization to expand its bicycle recycling efforts, divert waste from landfills, and promote sustainable transportation. The refurbished bicycles will support programming that provides youth from underserved communities with access to safe, reliable bikes and opportunities for active, healthy living.

Purchases: Van 

Yuma County Landfill

• Project Title: Upgrading cardboard and metal recycling program

• Date Awarded: 5/31/2025

• Category: Recycling, Collection/Hauling

• Amount Awarded: $50,000

• Timeframe: 6 months

• Region: Yuma County

The Yuma County Landfill and recycling facility has been operating since 1982. Grant funds will support equipment purchases to increase recycling capacity and protect employees from having to clean materials by hand. This project will ensure that Yuma County Landfill can effectively provide recycling services in their rural county.

Purchases: Trailers, electromagnet, mobile trash vacuum, bailing wire

YMCA of the Rockies

• Project Title: Yes We Can - Recycling at YMCA of the Rockies

• Date Awarded: 4/22/2025

• Category: Recycling

• Amount Awarded: $49,442

• Timeframe: 6 months

• Region: Estes Park and Granby

This project will increase access to recycling at YMCA of the Rockies locations in Estes Park and Granby. Grant funds will purchase recycling bins made from recycled materials and featuring clear labeling to place in high traffic areas across each location to maximize the volume of materials that are collected.

Purchases: Recycling bins

RockyTech, Ltd.

• Project Title: Closing the Loop: Circular Approaches to Managing 3D Printing Filament Waste in Colorado

• Date Awarded: 8/11/2025

• Category: Community Engagement/Outreach/Education, Reuse/Repair/Recovery, Recycling

• Amount Awarded: $50,000

• Timeframe: 6 months

• Region: Boulder

RockyTech is a sustainable plastic innovation company that champions sustainability in plastics from initial feedstock to responsible end-of-life solutions. This project will collect plastic waste and recycle it for reuse in 3D printing and other local manufacturing applications.

Purchases: Plastic separation and processing equipment, bins and signage for community partners, outreach materials

Town of Ophir

• Project Title: Replace broken composting equipment and purchase a biochar kiln

• Date Awarded: 4/22/2025

• Category: Composting/anaerobic digestion/biochar

• Amount Awarded: $34,465

• Timeframe: 6 months

• Region: San Miguel County

The Town of Ophir is a small, rural municipality that has shown a commitment to composting despite broken equipment. Grant funds will purchase an in-vessel composter and biochar kiln to divert residential waste from landfills, and create compost and biochar to use as soil amendments in the town. By replacing broken equipment and purchasing a kiln, the Town of Ophir will produce approximately 15,000 pounds of valuable compost annually and reduce weekly trash pick-up by six yards.

Purchases: In-vessel composter, biochar kiln