In 2022, The Colorado Legislature passed HB 1355, creating the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) program. Colorado’s EPR program was created to expand recycling and increase the use of post-consumer recycled (PCR) content in packaging. To meet those goals, Colorado must remain open to innovation and ensure the program is flexible enough to incorporate new technologies and scalable solutions as they emerge. That adaptability is key to building a system that can evolve alongside changing markets and materials. To achieve these goals cost-effectively, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) must maintain proven, science-based accounting methods—including mass balance—that make it possible to verify recycled content and measure progress across the state’s recycling system.
Colorado’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) program aims to increase recycling access and recycled content in packaging. To meet these goals, producers need a verifiable, transparent, and scalable accounting system — exactly what mass balance provides.

Less access to trusted, science-backed recycling technology means more waste in our landfills poisoning our air, water, and communities. If CDPHE removes mass balance from the EPR program, Colorado’s recycling system will become less efficient, more expensive, and less effective at meeting its environmental and recycling goals. Maintaining this science-based approach will keep Colorado’s recycling system strong, affordable, and aligned with national and global best practices.

Hawaiʻi’s construction defect resolution process was designed to encourage cooperation between homeowners and builders to quickly and fairly resolve legitimate issues related to a flaw in the design, materials, or workmanship of a home.