Colorado

Solid waste and materials management sites and facilities

Agency Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

Colorado solid waste and materials management sites and facilities

Landfills and other solid waste sites in Colorado are permitted jointly by local government and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). The local governing body with jurisdiction, a county or a municipality, issues a Certificate of Designation. CDPHE carries out the technical review, inspects the facilities, and publishes a list of solid waste facilities and activities.

In a Phase I ESA

CDPHE's solid waste facility records are the Colorado form of the state landfill and solid waste disposal site records that ASTM E1527-21 lists as a standard source. The general reading of a landfill listing is on the landfills and solid waste page. Five Colorado details shape the search.

The permit is a local document. CDPHE says there is no statewide application form for a Certificate of Designation, and that a person proposing a facility should contact the local governing body where the site is to be located. CDPHE reviews whether the location, design and operating criteria are protective, and any technical conditions in its final report become requirements of the certificate the local body issues. Ask the county or municipality for the certificate as well as asking CDPHE for its review.
More than landfills need one. CDPHE says certificates of designation are generally required, besides solid waste landfills, for waste impoundments, water treatment plant sludge disposal sites, medical waste treatment, storage or disposal facilities, composting facilities, and onsite disposal of regulated asbestos-contaminated soil.
Some operations register and hold no certificate. CDPHE says many entities that need no certificate of designation or other permit must still register with it or become certified. It names composting facilities, recycling facilities and waste tire facilities among them, and lists registered recyclers, composters and tire haulers separately.
A release at a solid waste site is its own record. CDPHE treats a site where non-hazardous waste has been released to the environment as an illegal disposal site, and its solid waste staff oversee the cleanup of releases of non-hazardous substances in soil. See Solid and hazardous waste cleanup.
Closed landfills owned by local governments have a grant program. The Closed Landfill Remediation Grant Program was created by House Bill 23-1194, codified at section 30-20-124 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, to help eligible local governments mitigate and remediate environmental problems caused by their closed solid waste landfills. CDPHE posts the program's annual report and its advisory committee's recommendations for each grant cycle. For a property near a closed municipal or county landfill, check those documents.

The pages read do not say whether the facilities list includes closed or historic landfills. The regulations are 6 CCR 1007-2, Part 1, Regulations Pertaining to Solid Waste Sites and Facilities.

Where to look a site up

CDPHE's Solid waste and materials management sites and facilities page links:

the solid waste facilities and activities list;
a document listing municipal solid waste landfills open to the public;
maps of solid waste facilities, on its Environmental maps and GIS data page;
a data visualization of Colorado landfills accepting asbestos-containing waste from the public;
its lists of registered recyclers, registered commercial composters, and registered tire registrants and haulers.

Getting the file

CDPHE's Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division has an online records search and takes requests through the form on its records review page or at cdphe_cora_hmwmd@state.co.us. The route is described on the records review page. The Certificate of Designation is issued by the local governing body. The pages read do not say how to request it from one.

Sources

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment pages, read October 7, 2026, no modified date shown: