Public Works Committee - Regular Meeting

Hey Denver, it's time for this bi-weekly meeting of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of Denver City Council. Join us for the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee starting now.

We have this presentation today from Climate Action, Sustainability, and Resiliency Office. My name is Flora Alvarez. I am the chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and I would like to start with council introductions to my rate.

Good afternoon. Chris Hines, Denver's Perfect Ten. Kevin Flynn, Southwest Denver's District Two.

Great, so this is only a briefing, not an action item, so I think we're good to proceed without quorum. If our visitors from CASR want to introduce themselves, then take it away.

Great, wonderful. My name is Taye Dunkley, and I'm with CASR, and I'm our Manager of Zero Waste and Circular Economy.

And I'm Kelsey DeFrancia, Circular Economy Senior Administrator.

And we just wanted to thank you for the invitation to come present and provide an update on the Universal Recycling and Composting Ordinance or ERCO as we'll refer to it. Last time we were here talking to this committee, about this policy it was a couple of our colleagues and this was before the updated ordinance was adopted by city council so a lot has happened between september 15th when the final changes were adopted and today and so we are really happy to bring you all to speed on what has transpired This is a large undertaking, and while we, CASR, are providing this update today, we are not the only entities involved with implementing this ordinance. There are actually eight different agencies involved, if not more, many of which are in the audience today and can answer direct questions or on the line. And we are just really excited about the opportunity that this policy brings to Denver. This really expands access to services that have been a reality for residential customers for a really long time, and this really expands recycling and composting across all sectors. and I'd like to also make a special introduction of So caster has recently hired dedicated staff person to Lead our components of universal recycling and composting and Christy Turner is in the room She is our program manager for universal recycling and composting. So really excited to have her on board and with that Just wanted to run through the agenda for today. We know you all know a lot about this ordinance. We've been here before. It's been in front of council a couple times. And so we're going to really give you just a brief background on what The policy includes provide some key milestones, talk about the different administrative foundations, resources that we've been developing. So basically what's happened since September 15th of last year up until now, and then looking forward to September 1st and then beyond. So we'll have hopefully plenty of time to answer questions as well. And with that, I'm gonna hand it over to Kelsey.

So, again, you have all been along through the ordinance updates, and so we'll do a very brief background. Just as a reminder, our Department of Transportation and Infrastructure services, single family homes and small apartment buildings up to 7 units. And so this ordinance is really meant to cover essentially everyone else. About 20 to 25% of the waste is generated by our DOTI customers, and then up to 80% is covered by this ordinance from multifamily residential buildings, non-residential buildings, food businesses, public permitted events, and permitted construction and demolition activities. And so this ordinance is really about expanding access to waste diversion, to recycling and composting, and really implementing what was written by the community and passed by community members. And we know that the opportunity that this creates for Denver is huge. For example, tens of thousands of multifamily residential tenants, for example, will have access to recycling and composting. The vast majority of our attendees at public permitted events will have access to recycle or compost. But we also know that this is a major transition and a big lift for both the city and the community. And so we've been working really hard to support that transition. Because so many different entities are covered by this ordinance, we have a number of different agencies, as he mentioned, involved in implementation. Some of these entities have regular touch points with the city, and some have not regularly interacted with our city agencies. And so you can see here are different implementing agencies, including licensing, Department of Public Health and Environment, arts and venues, parks, DOTI, and community planning and development. Again, our colleagues are here today if you have any questions for those particular agencies. And again, some of the entities have established touch points with these agencies, others have had more limited interaction. And so since the ordinance updates were passed in September of last year, all of our agencies have been working together to figure out what effective implementation and enforcement really looks like. So we formed working groups across all of these agencies to identify the existing touch points, coordinate our responsibilities, and really build in implementation into the existing city functions and processes wherever possible. And we'll talk more about that as well. So for our key milestones, we're not going to spend too much time on this slide because I know it's very hard to read. Hopefully you all have either had time to digest it before or will have time to look at it more in depth later. But this is really showing the administrative foundations, the communications, the resources that we've been working on both Working on as many things as concurrently as possible while also acknowledging that some tasks are dependent on the completion of other tasks. So, you know, for example, we had the high level requirements of the ordinance that were passed last year, and that we communicated to folks, but we then need to complete. We then needed to complete our rules and regulations before we could really communicate the specific details of those requirements. So we have been moving as quickly as possible, which hopefully this slide also displays, while also being really thorough and thoughtful about our approach. So for administrative foundations, first, the rules and regulations, which don't change the overall requirements of the ordinance, but do really lay out how we make the requirements practical and workable. We had three different concurrent rules and regulations development processes for the three different sections of the ordinance happening all at one time from January through June of this year. We did a lot of stakeholder engagement in regards to those rules and rights development. We did a lot of rounds of public draft rules review, sent them to council members. You all suggested stakeholders that we needed to reach out to. We did direct outreach to over 2000 community members and organizations. We held five public information sessions and including one specific session dedicated to talking with our waste haulers to really get them on board and really bring them along as well. as well as at least 15 individual stakeholder meetings. And we took all of that stakeholder feedback into refining the rules and regs, making some adjustments, adding in a bit more flexibility into the rules ahead of our four official public hearings that we had before rules were adopted at the end of June. We have also been working on building out the technology needed for administrative functions. So again, as I mentioned before, we're trying to leverage as much of our existing tools and existing processes as much as possible. There isn't a dedicated funding stream for this implementation of this ordinance. And so we're really trying to work within the systems that we already have. You can see we have technology in general. So for 311 coordination, we have met with 311. We're developing our website every week, which will support answers that 311 provides. We've been developing additional FAQs to support their answers in answering and directing questions to appropriate agencies. And we know we need to continue to build this out to connect people to the resources that they need quickly. For buildings and events in C&D, the administrative technology is a little different. I'll just give one example. For buildings, our licensing department and public health department already uses the Acela platform to license food businesses and residential rental buildings. And so we're building out a separate concurrent Acela platform that will connect with that. with those existing licenses so that people can submit their waste diversion plans, their proof of compliance into that same platform. And it's connected with hopefully a platform that they're already familiar with.

All right, so now we're going to speak to some of the resources that we have been busy developing to support ERCO implementation. We kind of have this broken up into the really foundational compliance support resources, which in some cases are required by the ordinance to provide. And then we're also going to talk about some of the supportive programming that supports different entities with their compliance with the ordinance. So really foundational to our suite of resources is our website. Because universal recycling and composting is shared among so many different agencies and so many different parts of the city are involved with this, worked with our web team to really elevate the presence of this policy information to the city's homepage. And so available at denvergov.org, if you go to the mega menu, which we learned that term recently, you can find ERCO information right there on that homepage. And it is available at denvergov.org forward slash universal recycling. So really easy to find if you're just trying to Google it. And This is being updated in real time. We've made a lot of updates just recently in the past week. We plan to make another round of big updates, adding additional resources by the end of this week. And we also have, I'm gonna mention the universal, or the ERCO-ready haulers list. We've worked with our colleagues in DOTI who manage the hauler licensing program for any solid waste haulers that operate in Denver. to really elevate those that are what we're calling ERCO-ready. So they provide the services that are required through ERCO. And so they've filled out a quick survey, and they're featured prominently on that hallway licensing page. This is something that the community requested in our stakeholder process of, hey, how do I find these services? licensed providers as readily as possible. So that's one adjustment we've made to the website to make that possible. So we would just welcome all of you to get to help us. We'll talk more about this a little bit later, but just get the word out that these resources are available now and more will be added soon. Something else that's really foundational to ERCO implementation includes signage and decals. So oftentimes or in several areas of this policy, signage is required and there are certain standards that are required such as English and Spanish or picture only. And so we have developed templates or versions of signage for various audiences. So we have one for multifamily, we have one for events, we have one for front of house, back of house, etc. So we have these different versions. They meet the ordinance requirements. They do not have to be used. They are just an option as long as anyone meets the basic requirements laid out in the ordinance. Any signage developed by others will work. I want to just mention quickly that we utilized best practices as much as possible across our industry. We looked at peer communities that have signage to really develop signs that we think are really, really close, really effective for communicating the requirements of this policy and what can and can't be recycled or composted. And we are continuing to always iterate on this. So as a quick example, we are actually hosting a small event tonight at a residential condominium where we are providing signage to the residents of a building, asking them for feedback. And then we're going to follow up on feedback after they've been using signage, both in their common areas and their one-pagers in their units. And we're also testing some potential materials that we could provide to the buildings for in-unit recycling. And so that event is happening in District 2. So Councilman Flynn, that would be your district, I believe. And that's happening tonight. So we're always continuing to iterate on the signage and make it as good as we possibly can before we send these to print in earnest. So in addition to those really foundational resources like the website and the signage, we are also currently developing additional resources that help people comply with the ordinance. So those might be things like checklists on what you need to do in advance of this ordinance. It might be training materials. We're developing resources both for the responsible parties, but also for those responsible parties to provide to their residents or their employees or who in their scope needs to comply with the actual requirements. This is not necessarily an exhaustive list, but I just wanted to point out that beyond just the website and signage, we're creating other documents. And then we also have sort of this do more and save more category of resources. So while you don't absolutely have to minimize your food waste, If you do choose to take some actions to minimize your food waste, that could save you. It's doing a little bit more, but it's also saving you more money. So we have resources kind of broken up into different layers here.

And.

So we're doing a lot. We have a lot of resources developed. And we know we need to get these resources out into the community. And so we've started that process. And we'll talk about what we have underway. So in general, we are really coordinating closely with all of the different agencies that are involved with ERCO implementation. So we have a group of all of the communications directors involved in this process. We're meeting with them regularly and utilizing all of these individuals to help us roll out the communications plan that we have developed. So we are actively implementing this program and we are actively communicating the resources and it is a work in progress. We are also taking an education first approach to implementation and so we are really leading with how do we make sure that people have the information in front of them so that they can comply because that is our ultimate goal is to make sure that people have what they need in order to meet these requirements because that is what really meets our goals here with waste diversion. Great, so what are we doing to let people know about these resources and these requirements? We are using a few different strategies. Not gonna list them exhaustively, but we are using existing channels and leveraging existing pathways as much as we can, whether that's through the website, whether that's through social media accounts, existing newsletters. I know a newsletter from our colleagues at DDPHE just went out the other day with ERCO highlights in it. And we are also doing direct communication to responsible parties. And so what that looks like is we are developing letters to go out to individual responsible parties and interacting with those responsible parties via email and other avenues. So let's see, I think. And then just to highlight a couple of the really cool things that we're doing, I just want to highlight that we are actually part of a webinar this morning talking to restaurants about IRCA requirements. Christy was presenting to the Eat Denver folks, I believe. And we have some events planned with our peers. at Green Latinos and We Don't Waste coming up later in August, where we're going to be talking with, again, the restaurant community about what resources exist and how they can donate food before it becomes waste, or donate edible food, rather. And we're really excited to share that we have a Ergo Resource Fair planned for later this month. Details are being finalized right now, but we do hope to be able to share an invitation with all of you and with the public here in the next few days. And so that is something we're really excited about to kind of kick off what this will look like in the community and make sure people are connected to the right resources before this goes live. All right, so implementation support programs, we kind of classify, or what we're talking about here is really the supportive programs that go above and beyond the educational and compliance-related resources. We have a few programs that exist already that are helping or can be helping businesses or entities comply with ERCO. So for example, CASR offers a zero waste support for food service providers right now. And this program is accepting applications currently. And for those restaurants that have disposable serviceware items, like plates and cups and things that they use for on-site dining, they can apply to this program and receive up to $1,000 of incentives for purchasing reusable materials, and they can receive up to $3,600 towards composting services over the next year. So this is a really exciting program. It supports ERCO implementation, and we are accepting applications currently. And then we always have certifiably green mini grants available for waste reduction. And then we also have a really great training rebate program available right now to help offset the cost or completely offset the cost of individuals taking a compost operators training program. And we find while all of our resources are really dedicated towards responsible parties and how they can comply, we're really excited about this opportunity because it helps really lift up the entire ecosystem of our waste system and really make sure that the workforce is developed to support this policy and just waste diversion in Denver in general. So As far as planned implementation supports and programs, we know we need to develop additional supports to businesses and to multifamily buildings and to events, etc. So we certainly have some concepts under development right now. We are looking to print some print and distribute signage to Some audiences, we are looking into a mini-grant for developing the deconstruction workforce. We know that'll be really helpful for C&D components of this policy. We really want to use data from this first couple of months of implementation and feedback that we receive to really drive our investment in different areas where we can support people and prioritize our support to those that need it the most or that will drive the most impact. And so we are really keeping a careful eye on the need and both resources and capacity that we have on our team. Great, so just to wrap this all up with some next steps, we have this separated out to between now and September 1st, what we're doing, and then September 1st and beyond. That's been sort of the line in the sand for a long time now, and so since that is finally here, what we're doing between now and September 1st is continuing to update the denvergov.org website with additional resources. We're building out those supportive, the notes about supportive programs, the additional resources, those basic resources. We are also hosting that resource fair later this month. So again, stay tuned for that. We are developing ongoing direct communications to responsible parties. So those should be going out later this month or early next month. And as we shift into implementation, once we meet that 9-1 date, September 1st, we again are emphasizing this education first approach. to implementation. We are continuing to develop outreach and education resources and keep those going out into the community. And we are developing data reporting as required by the ordinance and anything else that can go above and beyond to keep all of you apprised and all of council and our community apprised of our progress, both from the compliance standpoint and also the impact of the policy. So with that, we're happy to open up for questions. We can call on some of our colleagues to help us answer those questions.

Great. Thank you so much. Before we get started, could you speak to, or if you're aware of who is available online for additional questions, I think the question before council gets to questions is just what are the roles that... For example, Denver Arts and Venue, DDPHE, NTS have, as we move forward, if you could speak to that before we go into questions in case they have questions for those individuals that are online.

Yeah, absolutely. So for DDPHE and our licensing department, DDPHE is online. Felicia should be online. They will be involved in the implementation and compliance and enforcement for buildings and food businesses. And then for Denver Arts and Venues, Megan Sullivan is online. Denver Arts and Venues, Parks and Rec, and DOTI will all be involved in the implementation and compliance for permanent events. And then our colleague from CPD is here, and CPD is involved in the compliance for the C&D portion of the ordinance for permanent projects.

Great. Thank you for that. I will go into the queue. We have Councilman Flynn.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Could you do a little deeper dive on the outreach and how much of it occurred at this point and what still remains to occur? We got a letter from the Colorado Restaurant Association today, I don't know if you also received that, saying that a survey of the members showed a number of restaurants and licensed food providers who remain unaware of this. And that's, of course, I'm very familiar over the many years that you can put out as much information as you can, even direct letters to your list of licensees, and still not get through. So can you do a deeper dive to make

Sure. So I think something I forgot to say is we are doing a lot of things, all these different channels. And we know there will be gaps. And we recognize that there will be gaps. And people will not necessarily know that this is happening. So I think a really broad stroke is we are, for buildings and businesses, really looking at the education first approach because we know we need to educate while also notifying people that they need to comply. So we realize that will be more of a dial than a switch. So some of the things that we have done already include some of those direct communications in newsletters. Our letters have yet to go out, like our paper letters to individual entities. But folks have been receiving information over the course of a couple of years in some cases about this. I think the survey you're referencing is in connection to our stakeholder process we did in advance of the rules and regulations adoption. Is that right? I'm not sure.

It could be a new survey. I'm not sure. But we did do a survey of restaurants with the Colorado Residence. Restaurant association, when we were working on rules and regulations, doing a lot of our stakeholder outreach was done during the rules and regs process. And then again, we're still working on the direct mailings to notify people of the updated requirements. But we have been working with our other agencies to get. the notifications out to those that subscribe. We know that we did an event with permitted events last week, and so event holders that have permits and have to comply as of September 1st have received that information, and I'm sure that some of our other colleagues could speak to any other communications that they've been doing.

Okay, so that's all direct letters. So they haven't gone out?

The draft letters have not gone out yet.

Because that's probably the best way to reach each person that know you touched them, whether they've read it or not. It's another thing that social media and public announcements don't really get through to where we need them all the time. Tell me, one of the concerns in the letter was extra charges by their providers for contamination. And so I've noticed as I've been out in my district to places that are fast food, like even a Chipotle or a Burger King or a place like that that might have compost, recycle, trash. It relies on our customers who don't have the same Level of education on how to sort I've been very confused myself as to whether because of our rules here in Denver a solid waste that only food waste or Vegetation lawn clippings and you know tree trimmings can go into my bin But I'm not sure that people who go to Chipotle know that You know, we're not supposed to put the supposedly compostable forks or plates or things like that unless Do we have providers to our commercial businesses that do accept and process compostable products other than the natural stuff?

Sure. So one quick clarification on the front of house sorting. For the examples you mentioned, the Chipotle's or Burger King's, that sort of environment, recycling would be required in the front of house, recycling and composting in the back of house. So contamination can really be reduced by training staff, especially on the composting side of things. So maybe a more limited stream, not so much the packaging in the back of house or like the kitchen context of the restaurant. So that's one way the policy was developed in order to address particularly the potential for contamination in the composting stream.

Okay. Well, explain to me then in the front of house, the trash that a customer might put compostable waste in the trash, how is that handled under the rules and rights? Is there an obligation of the licensee to sort that or to prevent that in any way?

So the food service provider could offer composting in the front of house if they chose to. They're not required to. So in that case, those materials that were otherwise compostable would be going into the trash still. But there's a balance there of contamination and also where the majority of that organic material is being generated. And to your question about the food Service packaging, that's a really interesting question. And there's been a lot about that in the last couple of years since one of the processors stopped accepting that. And it kind of sent shockwaves through our community. So we have designed all of our resources under the assumption that we have to use the least common denominator, which is strictly the food materials. And so that's what's included in the ordinance. That's what we've designed our materials for. But there are some processor or there are some haulers that accept more than just food. And so, yes, they do exist in the community right now. And so that's where we would advise someone to utilize the signage from that hauler that emphasizes what specifically can be accepted. And it might be more than what our signage includes.

That's good to hear. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. That's all.

Great. Council President.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for the presentation. I counted, there are six different agencies that are involved and engaged in this whole process. So no lack of more, seven, eight, nine, ten. everybody who's here and more. So no lack of complication or complexity to this. Just an operational kind of side is CASR holding the, are you the air traffic control for this and what is the cadence for you put in there like frequent, you know, continuous improvement and moving forward. I'm just curious about what is some of the back office operation or how are you managing this project?

It's great, it looks great on paper.

But I'm just thinking there's some logistical sides of this, like managing this.

So we definitely, in terms of implementation from September until now, we put together a structure of different working groups, making sure that different agencies were all involved in specific rules and regulations working groups, specific administrative working groups. to make sure that everybody was on the same page. We then had kind of a hierarchy of a management group and leadership to identify the people in leadership that needed to make those kind of final decisions. So I think we are going to try to maintain some of that cadence. We were definitely meeting Very, very regularly for rules and regulations. And so I think we won't meet as regularly for for that group, but definitely wanting to maintain. And I think hazard will probably be the ones that will continue to coordinate. And we've kind of been the ones to make sure that all different sections of implementation of the ordinance have been moving along on similar cadences. So.

Okay, great. Thank you. And I would look forward to just hearing how this goes as you're moving along just for kind of process. Like, I think this is a learning for everyone and just being able to stay abreast as to what that progress is. And then on another side, I think about, you know, the team in my office who are responding to calls. Um, so who, who does my team reach out to? So we have a few, like, a few examples, like, we've had a few restaurants reach out. We've had, um, there's a DHA property that wants to start composting and have additional services. We have people who aren't getting separately aren't getting their trash or compost picked up. Who who do they need to who should they be calling in this process? Like is it you and then you are a traffic controller? Bless you. Bless you. Does that change or? It's a four. Yeah, that's a great question. I'm like, it's kind of complex and I'm just, they're kind of like, okay, can we figure out who we need to connect with?

We've been working with our 311 team, and especially as we're developing this website that's kind of hosting all of the ERCO information on one centralized location, even though some of it belongs in other agencies. So we're working with them to really map out kind of that routing process of, like, if this, then that. Because one of our concerns, too, is are people going to start asking residential questions to ERCO and vice versa. So we're really trying to route people in the right way. It's a work in progress. So I think for now, certainly send folks our way, and we can help route them. As we get better systems set up, our 311 coordination will get smoother and smoother as time goes on. And we'll have a more streamlined process for this. But we are also trying to understand what that kind of what that volume of intake will look like too, as we design everything.

And for now, we do have a universal recycling at denvergov.org email inbox. And so over the course of the last, probably we've been the ones kind of routing and answering questions. And so we'll continue to do that until our 311 and our other systems are fully set up.

Okay. So the website that you just mentioned, 311, I'll also have them call you. One way or another we'll figure out some of the questions that are out there. I don't have any other questions, just more, again, of a comment of the complexity of what you're undertaking and that this is new. And I'm sure that we will have more questions that come up as this moves along. So any additional communication that you have, I saw that you have the communication pieces, things that we can send out or that I can send out in my newsletter. on social media, just to be able to continue to push out that information in my district would be really helpful. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Great. Anybody else in the queue? No? OK. I would like to ask around. I mean, this is really great. I'm glad we're at this point. It does feel like we're not 100% ready for September 1. And so I am concerned there. When it comes to, and I know we have DDPHE online. I'm curious around food serving businesses like restaurants. In their license application now, is this being integrated into that? And when they go out to inspections, is this now going to be part of their inspections, if someone could answer that question?

Um, yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah, there is. I'm a program supervisor with within. I've worked along with these ladies on the rules and regs. I'm going to talk a little bit about the inspection piece. Our teams are routinely doing inspections at these food waste producers, and so we'll be checking compliance and providing educational documents that CASR has created and kind of helping onboard them and educate them in this new rules and regulations. And a little bit of the licensing piece. is yes, when they renew their license each year, it will be part of the licensing application and that will be reviewed by the Department of Consumer Protection and Licensing. But the regulations do also require them to have those documentations available on site. So when our investigators are and site doing routine food safety inspections, we can check that. We're also set up to be able to do complaints. So if there's any complaints about these new rules and regulations happening in food processing establishments, we'll be able to intake those and document those and go out and reach the different business owners and operators to educate them on that.

Wonderful. Thank you so much, Felicia. I think I do have one follow up, which is just what will that complaint system look like? I don't see a complaint button on the website. Will that be up as of September 1st or what will that look like?

So I'll we're currently working. I apologize. I have a working dog in the background.

We can empathize with dogs. Gotta get used to that, more than kids now. We have more dogs in the city than children.

I can also add.

Thank you. Sorry, I apologize for that. Recycling was getting picked up, so the dog really was happy about that. Our system that we use for inspections and complaint intakes is Inicela. The complaint intake, it's already set up. We had to just add a single checkbox so that we could... Be able to filter those complaints that would be different between a food safety or foodborne illness complaint. So we're ready for that. And then actually, our team is going to go live either today or next Wednesday on updating our inspection reports that will have that. And I have a meeting on Friday to just make sure that. Our support staff who intake complaints as well as their connections with 311 are prepared for this. So that as soon as September 1 hits, we will be ready to intake complaints and be fully operational. So I don't have any concerns from the side of things. for us and what we're doing with these rules and regulations will be pretty sufficient, ready to go on September 1st.

Great Thank you so much. Um, that was all I had for you. So I appreciate that. Um, I also am curious. I'm concerned about what you mentioned that we don't have any funding source for this. Um, and I know that we, as counsel Monday passed on 1st, reading the creation of a fund that will hold. fees and fines and things of that nature. But those funds will then right now go to the general fund. Have you all spoken to the Department of Finance about how you can maybe consolidate the funds generated by this ordinance so that it can go into supporting all the departments in the ways that they need to to enforce Waste No More or ERCO?

Regarding that particular agenda item from Monday, I might invite Jonathan or Eric to speak to that.

I can take a shot if you have more to add. Hi, Jonathan Wachtell, Deputy Executive Director at CASR. The budgeting challenges around this ordinance have kind of been present since we put it in place in the update and we went to implement. Right now, we're really leveraging existing limited general funds that we have in CASR to try to move just the basic administration work forward. As far as future budget process, it's like it's in the works right now. And so I'm probably not the best time to talk about it because we're still working through how we might support these programs in the future. As far as where that revenue, any revenue, we'd like to not generate revenue from forfeited deposits or things like that. But that will go in, my understanding is that will go into the general fund as a whole. So I think that probably just needs to be part of the discussion with the Department of Finance as we need resources to implement this program. I will say, I think what's really important in terms of our process to find funding to support programs that can help businesses, help the multifamily, whether we're trying to do some type of incentive programs or technical support. I think we've got some that we can leverage through our existing funding. We have some availability to use disposable bag fee fund dollars, but we want to make sure we're meeting the intent of that ordinance first to administer the disposable bag fee fund. And I think what we really want to do is learn from this implementation. We know there's going to be some challenges, right, as 10,000 buildings try to implement this and all the other parties. So I think we're really looking at the first six months to a year of implementation to see where are the biggest pain points. for implementation. And then we'll be able to hopefully focus and design those programs that can provide support around what we're learning. And I think as that happens, we'll also see if there is any revenue being generated and we'll kind of understand costs. So I think there's like a little bit of patience needed as we kind of sort through that, figure out what it is we really need to elevate this. And so that's the approach we're hoping to take. And I know that doesn't help specifically answer like, you know, the money coming into that fund, but that's what I can provide at this time.

I appreciate that. Thank you. And then I have a question for CPD. I know, can you talk to me about the process that a contractor will go through with a remodel? or demo and how we're communicating that. I know I've been outraged about the tiny home village that's being deconstructed and that wood are not being recycled. And I know it's not September 1st yet, but when it comes to particularly our own projects, I think we'd be more proactive. And so going into a lot of these construction projects, how are you all thinking about that?

Yes, thank you. Eric Browning, the chief building official and community planning and development. And so the ordinance will apply universally to all projects, whether they're city projects or private projects, privately funded projects without a degree of. higher scrutiny for our own capital projects. And so for any of those that do meet the thresholds for deconstruction and diversion based on the gross square footage and the type of project that it is, then those will have to meet the diversion criteria. So hopefully that answers the question in terms of those capital projects which may be below the thresholds not being required to, even as you mentioned, ahead of the September 1st deadline. With respect to the design of the outreach and communication, very similar to what our partners in CASR have mentioned, we've done some of the high-level work currently in terms of newsletters. We are working on finishing the design and implementation of the software and the programs that our customers will use and that we will use. And then we will be sending out direct targeted communication as the councilman had mentioned directly to our licensed contractors, our demolition contractors. And so we will put that information in their hands and as long as it doesn't go to spam, we got a decent shot. And hopefully they'll take it and read that information as well.

I appreciate that. And what kind of outreach or do you have any support? I don't see, I see in that part of the website, the rules and regulations, but I don't see here are the haulers that take a toilet. Here are the places you can take wood and towels. And so I think if I was a contractor with this new ordinance to support them to have a list of places, because I don't think that all contractors understand where they can take all these different materials. Is that something you're working on developing?

It absolutely is and some of that actually much of that already exists and it's a matter of simply updating some of our website information and providing the appropriate cross references to our customers whether that be a you know demolition contractor or even a homeowner and Some of that information already lives within our DOTI websites, where they've identified facilities that these products can be taken to. In addition, we are using a third-party tool that we're integrating into our process, which will include a very large suite of haulers and facilities that our customers can use so that there's really no reason or restriction in terms of them being able to find somewhere within, I think we use a 150 mile radius of Denver to find places where they can divert these materials outside of a landfill.

That's great. And I just want to say I don't see any of that on the link where you have for the ERCO website, then you have construction and demolition. So I think the thing that's confusing for us and the thing that will be confusing for the public is just who do I talk to about what are the resources available for a restaurant versus for a construction company versus others. And so I hope that we can have a better system. That's all I have for you. Thank you so much. Absolutely. And then back to you all, I'm curious more about the specifics on the outreach to the haulers because we made some phone calls to haulers and they seem to not understand or know what's going on. It could be the person that answered the phone, but I think in preparation, are they doing training and what exact outreach was done to the haulers?

Sure. One, so I'll start by saying that we, during our rules and regulations development process, we addressed kind of the areas of the ordinance and a hauler-specific um sessions so that we could get input from the hauling community um you know we asked questions of how how prepared are you all for this do you know what's happening do you know what's coming do you and like ask for of course their input on the rules and regulations as well just as we asked of everyone else um so that was one direct strategy we use to reach out to the haulers. Dottie also licenses all the licensed waste haulers in Denver. And so they have sent communications out, including asking for all of the haulers to fill out the quick survey for ERCO readiness. you know, again, starting from the list of licensed haulers, asking each of those licensed haulers, hey, do you provide services to events? Do you provide services to multifamily? Do you provide construction and demolition hauling services? And so that has been a direct channel as well. And our, without giving away too many of the details that we can't share yet, our resource fair, we intend to engage the hauling community in that event too, happening later this month. So I don't know if that provides you— That helps.

I think my other question would be, what was their response to that? Do they feel prepared? Are they ready for the ordinance? Like, what kind of response did you get from the outreach? And what needs to change between now and September 1st? And what do we need to work on through the transition?

Yeah, so I think we certainly don't know with certainty if the haulers in Denver are ready to cover all of the need that we have. That is just an answer we don't quite have. But we've built in some flexibility with our exemption process for the inadequacy of hauling providers. So if there's an instance where someone cannot find a hauler, there is a little bit of a... An option to kind of evolve to release that pressure. Um, and we know that the hauling community is. Aware and we've heard anecdotally of additional hollers starting to operate in Denver as a result of our policy, but also some things happening at the state level too. So. That's kind of what we've been hearing, but I don't think anyone knows with certainty that there's capacity. And so we've built in this education first approach, some flexibility to know that we're all trying to ramp up in advance of this. And it will be sort of a, again, like a dial versus a switch where it turns on overnight.

Okay, that's helpful to know. I definitely have a lot of concerns about how this is all going to roll out and how people are going to know who to go to when. I may get back in the queue, but I'll give it over to Council President and have some questions. Thank you, Committee Chair.

And actually, you covered a lot of kind of on the same vein of what I was, what I wanted to ask about was just more of the navigation for people in that how-to space. navigate the system and I don't know if that's something I mean I see the website and I see you know kind of go to you know is this you and then they go through the whole through the whole list but I'm just wondering if it's if it's even something how do you formalize some of the things that you've talked about and I see it in the website and that might be to come or more of a deliverable for forward knowing that you need to create something, but you also need to know what people need. And I understand that it's a balance. So not a direct question, but just something very mindful. And you asked a lot of the same kind of questions in the essence of what I wanted to know. So just if that's, I don't know if that's a deliverable or if that's something next time that you could just update us on of how that progress is going.

Can I add a little bit of information there? We are We are sort of adding a new batch of information later this week to our website, which includes some checklists of what you need to do to comply. And I believe that is not currently on the website. So what that will look like, even though we don't maybe have our compliance platform ready for people to enter information, What we will have soon is a list and a checklist of the things that you will need to compile in order to eventually submit that information formally to us. So it's kind of a sneak peek of what can be compiled. So resources are arriving by the week onto the website, and our systems are really coming along nicely, but they are still under development in some cases and getting added as we go.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. I think that we will need more help and maybe with our aides as this unrolls on how we... Did you want to get back in the queue?

Just for a comment. Yeah. You, Madam Chair, you brought up like where would, during a demo, where would you take like toilets? And I can answer that. in part to a great extent they end up in our roadways as aggregate in asphalt i learned this while i was spending five plus years at rtd on the commuter rail project at the federal boulevard station on the gold line there was the brandon sand and gravel aggregate yard a huge mountain of broken toilets. And they would accept when there was a multi-family demo, for instance. And they would be crushed eventually and mixed in with the ground up asphalt from Roto-Milling that was kept at that yard. It was really an interesting process to see it change from week to week as we took people out on the corridor. I tried to get people to believe that the mountain of broken toilets was the art installation for the project, actually. And we believe that. But we end up reusing it in a very simple fashion. And so it's quite a learning process to be on there. I just wanted to pass that on. That's what happens with a lot of it.

That's great. I think that one of our goals as we head into creating the new goals for the sustainability goals is a circular economy. And that's what that speaks to. And that's what I hope we can have more with the composting and with the recycling. How do we reuse these items and not create waste? But I did want to give a chance to Denver Arts and Venues to speak little bit too of course I'm concerned on what that looks like for the concert venues and Levitt Pavilion and how the outreach to the for the events is going and how does how did this special events work with ongoing events so if someone is still on from arts and venues I'd love to hear how that's going and what will be the difference there between the different events

Yeah, hi, good afternoon. I'm Megan Sullivan with the public event and film permitting team from Denver arts and venues. My connection is a little bit. Low, so apologies if I have to go off camera, but. Our team really works with public events, so events that are open to the public and occur on public properties. We don't work with venues, so I would have to ask one of my colleagues to speak to venues as in whatever category they fall. If it's non residential buildings or however, compliance will work for them for the public events. We have, you know, Come up with the rules and regulations has helped develop supporting documents. That's all been pushed out via email. Also, we've updated our event permitting application to reflect all of the information link to all of the resources provided on the websites. In addition, we hosted a lunch and learn just last week and it was attended. We had, um. over 60 RSVPs and it had pretty high attendance just to go over specifically step by step how they can request an exemption, what's required on the waste diversion plan, what the expectations are regarding site set up. So we've really been doing a lot of work to prepare them. They also interact with our event permitting specialists on a regular basis throughout their application process. So I know that they've been fielding a lot of individual questions regarding ERCO. So Um, we think there is prepared as they can be. Um, I know there are many of them are in the process of reaching out to haulers to get quotes to see what they can work into their budgets for events that are coming up in September.

Okay, that's helpful. I think for. In general, 1, the other concern that I have is just great that we're doing the work on all the back end side. But what about the consumer? The average who is putting plastic in compost and when the who is in charge of educating the public and how are we going to provide the signage in particular that we need on dumpsters in our parks and things and I know we don't have recycling and composting at all of our parks. So maybe that's a parks conversation, but I'm curious, what is our plan as a city to educate people on waste?

I mean, I think go ahead. I was going to say that for me also, or no, that's for hazard.

Sorry. That was all for you. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Yeah. I mean, I think that that's a great point again, because we have so much going on with compliance. I think that's really been our focus lately. Um, I know our department of transportation infrastructure has a lot of good, um, educational materials already. And as we've been developing ours, we've been trying to work with them to make sure that we are giving the same message to the community. We also have the extended producer responsibility law that's going into effect soon. And so the Circular Action Alliance who's leading that effort, they are also putting out a lot of education into the community. So we definitely plan to leverage some of those resources. But definitely this kind of like public education is also something that we wanna pursue. are talking about developing kind of educational materials around that as well.

Great, thank you. And then just before we wrap up, I know Green Latinos had a big part in all of this work, and we have someone here from them. If, Brian, you want to share a few words on how you feel like it's going and what we can do? Yes, come over to the microphone and introduce yourself, and then you can.

Fantastic. Thank you very much. Hello, everybody. My name is Brian Loma. I'm the Hazardous Materials and Waste Diversion Advocate for Green Latinos Colorado. Yes, we did have a major role in the creation of this bill, gathering the signatures. We are actively still providing educational communication outreach and in partnership with the city as much as we are able to as they're doing their end. And it is a lot of work. We have to remember that this ordinance was created at a time when the state and city legislators were not being seen as carrying or incorporating or seeing a value in having diversion practices. And so while we do now have things like battery recycling and paint care and the extended producer responsibility going forward, this did not exist when this was created. And so a lot of what the city and their agencies are doing is It's groundbreaking in Colorado with very few cities participating in this. I will say that there is still a lot of outreach and education that's needed. And as I go out, currently we have Two events planned, one next Thursday, I'm sorry, next Tuesday with We Don't Waste and CASR at the We Don't Waste facility to teach businesses about the cost-saving opportunities in donating instead of composting or landfilling. Obviously, we're getting away from the landfilling because of the methane emissions. And some property managers know, other places have no idea. There's a lot of questions. And one of the things that I would hope that we are all able to encourage is that the haulers are standing up in their responsibility. I met with a business yesterday who said that in order to get a new sticker on their recycling dumpster, the business was going to have to pay for it. And that is ridiculous in my mind. There has to be an ownership on the haulers to be doing education and outreach and participating in this process because they make a profit from this process. And so they need to be a stand-up partner in the relationship. And then, you know, we talk about funding and funding future needs, and I think one of the things that we all need to acknowledge is that contamination is a concern. And when we look at communities like Breckenridge that have standalone buildings where the recycling and the composting and the trash go in the business sectors, that they are locked buildings where you have to have an access code and there's a camera to get into them. and we can learn from places like windsor gardens that have the recycling bins unlocked not in buildings or in any kind of enclosure and they for years continuously have the problem of contractors dumping deconstruction waste into the recycling dumpsters because they're not they're not only not labeled but they're not um there's no access you have to be willing to participate in the diversion process in order to do it. And that is a key factor that we have all learned statewide as a method of of preventing the contamination issues that you mentioned, Councilman Flynn. I would say that you all should have in your flyer, in your email boxes, this flyer, which is bilingual with a QR code. We are encouraging you to put them out and to encourage your communities. And we at Green Latinos are available to co-host events. And we are asking council representatives, and we have been for more than a year, Please, we'd like to work with you. We would like to co-host in your communities to bring the Denver agencies that are doing all this hard work also to the table. Because every day that I go canvassing, I run into people who have no idea that this is coming and no idea that there are cost-saving measures. to reduce the burden, to co-op the bin services so they can share them, right? If you're not a standalone building, you don't have to. Even standalone buildings can co-op, right? We have our... I wish I could remember the name of the business right now. It's 12 Spirits Tavern and the Patterson Inn partnered with their neighboring apartment complexes to share recycling bin services. And there's been some difficulties and growing pains in that process. But there's a lot of opportunity. And, you know, we're getting started. So we got a long way to go, but we'll get there.

And then just to conclude with all of you is that I hope that you will communicate with us and make us your partner so that we can together work on educating the community about this. I also forgot to welcome Council President and Councilwoman Amanda Sandoval to the meeting earlier. This isn't an action item. It was just a briefing. We have several items on consent that have not been called off. And so with that, we will be adjourned. Thank you so much. Roxborough is also