Denver Transportation Committee Debates Expanding Disposable Bag Fee Uses – December 3, 2025
Denver Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Meeting – December 3, 2025
The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of the Denver City Council met on Wednesday, December 3, 2025, to consider a proposal from the Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency (CASER) to expand the allowable uses of the Disposable Bag Fee Special Revenue Fund. The meeting was chaired by Councilwoman Chantel Lewis (District 8) and included council members Kevin Flynn, Diana Romero Campbell, Flora Vitrez, Paul Cashman, Council President Sandoval, and Councilman Hines. After extensive discussion about fiscal responsibility, program priorities, and the original intent of the bag fee, the committee voted to advance the ordinance as is to the full council, with plans to amend it on the floor.
Discussion Items
- CASER Deputy Executive Director Jonathan Wachtel presented an overview of the existing disposable bag fee program, which imposes a 10-cent fee per bag (60% remitted to the city). Since its launch in 2021, the program has achieved a 50% reduction in disposable bag usage, avoided over 50 million plastic bags, and maintained 99% compliance. Revenue is declining as behavior changes, with current projections falling below $1 million annually and expected to drop to $300,000–$400,000 by 2030.
- The proposed ordinance would expand the fund’s allowable uses beyond administration, education, and reusable bag giveaways to include support for the Universal Recycling and Composting Ordinance (the Waste No More citizen initiative), studies on waste reduction and circular economy, and one-time catalytic investments (e.g., a $4.7 million transfer to DOTI’s volume-based pricing fund for citywide compost rollout, already approved in the 2025 budget but contingent on this code change).
- Councilman Hines expressed concern that the phrase “and related activities” in the proposed allowable uses was overly broad, potentially allowing spending unrelated to the listed 14 specific uses. He asked for tighter language to restrict spending to that list.
- Council President Sandoval argued that the proposed expansion effectively repurposed the bag fee fund into a general zero-waste implementation fund and suggested renaming it to reflect its new scope. She also opposed using funds for studies (Section I) rather than direct programs and raised concerns about the inconsistent service levels for trash, recycling, and composting pickup in her district.
- Councilwoman Vitrez questioned how expanded uses would contribute to greenhouse gas reduction and whether small businesses (including carnicerías) were receiving adequate support. Natalie, the program administrator, confirmed ongoing outreach and quarterly compliance checks with all businesses, noting that some small stores have opted to stop providing disposable bags.
- Councilwoman Romero Campbell asked about the long-term sustainability of the volume-based pricing program if bag fee revenues continue to decline. Justin Sykes (Budget Management Office) noted that the program has required General Fund transfers (e.g., $22 million in 2023) and that future state Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) revenues may help offset costs.
- Councilman Kevin Flynn proposed striking all new allowable uses except the $4.7 million transfer to avoid jeopardizing the 2025 budget, warning that failure to act could push the city’s fund balance below the mandatory 10% threshold. Council President Sandoval suggested a compromise: transfer $1.5 million instead to ease budget concerns while allowing more time to discuss the full expansion.
- Liz Babcock, Executive Director of CASER, urged the committee not to eliminate the additional allowable uses, citing the aggressive September 2026 deadline to implement the Universal Recycling and Composting Ordinance and the need for flexible funding to meet community expectations.
Key Outcomes
- The committee voted 4–1 to move the ordinance forward as written to the full City Council, with the understanding that amendments will be introduced on the floor. Councilmember Cashman voted no, expressing that he would not support the bill on the floor without changes.
- The intention, as stated by several council members and the administration, is to amend the ordinance on the floor to limit newly allowed uses to the $4.7 million (or possibly $1.5 million) transfer for the volume-based pricing program, while striking the broader expansion. Further discussion on renaming the fund and adding other allowable uses is expected early in 2026.
- The committee did not address any consent calendar items, and no public testimony was given.
Meeting Transcript
Hey Denver, it's time for this biweekly meeting of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of Denver City Council. Join us for the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee starting now. It doesn't look like we're on the air yet. Oh, there we are. Good afternoon, and welcome to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Today is Wednesday, December 3rd. My name is Chantel and Lewis, and I serve as your Denver City Council Person for District 8. And I'm excited to chair this committee. We'll start with a round of introductions, and we'll start with the folks who are online. I understand we have at least two folks online. Kevin Flynn, Southwest Denver Snowden District 2. Welcome, Kevin. Good afternoon, Diana Romero Campbell, Southeast Denver District 4. Thank you. And then we'll go into the room, Councilwoman. Councilman Flora Vitras had lucky district seven. Good afternoon, Paul Cashman, South Denver District 6, neither Schleet nor Snow. No, the dark never mind. I won't just I won't agree with that because things will stop me. We only have one thing on our agenda in terms of action items, and that is from uh CASAR. And so you all can introduce yourselves and jump in. Thank you. Uh I'm Jonathan Wachtel. I'm the deputy executive director for the Office of Climate Action Sustainability and Resiliency. And Justin Sykes, uh budget management office director. You all are very sick of me by now. And Madam Chair, we're never uh we're here today to discuss updating the disposable, the allowable uses for the disposable bag fee special revenue fund. So I have a brief presentation, and we also have staff from CASER and some other agencies available to answer questions if um if you have them and uh they bring a lot of subject matter expertise. Um so with that I will I will jump right in. Uh I want to start by just uh quick reminder of the disposable bag fee, the disposable bag fee uh program that exists currently. Um, and then I'll talk a little bit about the current allowed uses and the proposed changes, and then we can take questions. Uh so to start, I'll um just do the quick overview of what what what the disposable bag fee is. And I want to just um flag that this was really a um uh a program that was led by city council. It's very forward thinking. Uh there were some other communities that had programs like this, but Denver definitely joined um in a group of of early cities um addressing disposable bags and the pollution and environmental impacts from that. And so in 2021, council adopted a fee on all uh disposable bags that were being provided at checkout in retail stores in the city and county of Denver. Um and that's a 10 cent fee per bag, of which 60 percent of that or six cents of that dime comes to the city, remitted to the city, and 40 percent or four cents is main is kept by the business to cover the cost of administering that um for their business. Uh we were back uh to city council in 2024 to update some of the nuanced language of that ordinance after the state of Colorado passed uh you know uh legislation that banned plastic bags, um, and specifically that actually had an end date on when stores could no longer provide disposable plastic bags. So there was a brief update. Um, and just so that everyone's on the same page. Your paper bags now are still allowed, but also still but do require that 10 cent fee. Why was this put in place? The real intent as we went back to the records and really looked at the discussion that council had at the time. Um the real intent here was to create a financial signal and incentive to help change behavior to reduce the number of people that were using single-use bags, uh help people start really being diligent about bringing their own bags or passing on the bag. Um, and it has been highly effective. So uh we've seen a 50% reduction in the total disposable bags being used in the city of County Dent. We're talking over 50 million plastic bags that have been avoided because of this program. So this has been highly effective, and I want to make sure to be really clear that none of the proposed changes we're bringing forward would do anything to put at risk the continued administration education outreach and support that's resulted in this type of effective program. Uh, quick snapshot of what the revenues have looked like. Um, you know, this started in 2021, and we needed to build.
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