Definitions.
Denver Revised Municipal Code § 48-41
in effectSec. 48-41. - Definitions.
The following words and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them:
(1) Ashes means the solid waste products of combustion of any material.
(2) Association has the meaning set forth in the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Ave, Article 33.3 of Title 38, C.R.S., as amended.
(3) Building rubbish includes waste material from construction, remodeling and repair operations on houses, buildings and other structures. Building rubbish comprises a great variety of matter, such as excavated earth, stones, bricks, plaster, wallpaper, lumber, shingles, laths, concrete, discarded plumbing and electrical apparatus, roofing, scraps of metal, etc. Neither the term household rubbish nor the term yard rubbish includes building rubbish.
(4) Commercial garbage shall have the same meaning as defined by section 48-31 of this Code.
(5) Compost material means yard rubbish, household garbage, municipal facility kitchen garbage, as well as paper products that are acceptable to the manager of transportation and infrastructure.
(6) Eligible property means a single-family residence, an eligible residential multiunit dwelling, or a municipal facility kitchen.
(7) Eligible residential multiunit dwelling means each separate residential unit contained within a single structure, which single structure contains fewer than eight (8) household units, occupied or unoccupied.
(8) Garbage includes waste from the preparation, cooking and consumption of food, market refuse and waste from the handling, storage, preparation and sale of produce. Garbage originates primarily in kitchens, stores, markets, restaurants, hotels and other places where food is stored, cooked or consumed, and as such does not include food processing wastes from canneries, slaughter houses, packing plants or similar industries, nor large quantities of condemned food products. Garbage, for purposes of this article, is not included in the term household rubbish.
(9) Household garbage shall have the same meaning as defined by section 48-16 of this Code.
(10) Household rubbish means the waste, rejected, valueless or worthless matter, materials, trash and debris, including useless, unused, unwanted or discarded articles, from the ordinary household; the term does not include ashes, sod, dirt, garbage, yard rubbish or building rubbish.
(11) Household unit means a place of human habitation containing cooking and sanitary facilities, used for permanent, as opposed to transient, occupancy. This includes single-family residences and each separate habitation in a residential multiunit dwelling building. This category includes apartment buildings, condominiums, artist lofts, retirement homes, and any other combination residence/work space building. This category does not include property which is specifically designed for transient occupancy, such as dormitories, motels, hotels and hospitals.
(12) Litter shall have the same meaning as defined by section 48-92 of this Code.
(13) Municipal facility kitchen garbage means waste from the preparation, cooking and consumption of food, condemned food products and all refuse and waste from the handling, storage, preparation and use of produce originating in kitchens, food preparation facilities, and food preparation areas located in municipal and Denver public school facilities.
(14) Recyclable material means those materials which would otherwise become municipal solid waste, and which may be collected, separated, or processed and returned to the economic mainstream in the form of raw materials or products.
(15) Refuse shall have the same meaning as defined by section 48-92 of this Code.
(16) Residential multiunit dwelling building means two (2) or more household units, occupied or unoccupied, within a single structure.
(17) Single-family residence means a structure designed for human habitation by persons comprising a single household.
(18) Trash shall mean all or any ashes, building rubbish, commercial garbage, garbage, household garbage, household rubbish, litter, refuse, yard rubbish, and waste matter as defined herein.
(19) Trash container shall mean a container prescribed for trash disposal by rules and regulations of the manager of transportation and infrastructure.
(20) Volume-based trash pricing means a system wherein fees are assessed in proportion to the amount of trash generated at each eligible property. Fees are set by the size of the trash container selected by the owner or occupant of the eligible property and provided to each eligible property by the city.
(21) Waste matter includes all solid and hazardous wastes, including liquids, as those terms are defined by the State of Colorado.
(22) Yard rubbish includes tree branches, twigs, grass, shrub clippings, weeds, leaves and other general yard and garden waste materials. Yard rubbish may include a small quantity of dirt attached to weeds, etc., but does not include sod or dirt as such.
(Code 1950, §§ 352.1—352.4; Ord. No. 116-10, § 2, 2-22-10; Ord. No. 425-10, § 1, 8-9-10; Ord. No. 243-11, § 1, 5-2-11; Ord. No. 39-20, § 74, 2-3-20; Ord. No. 685-22, § 1, 6-27-22)
Source: City and County of Denver, Revised Municipal Code and Charter (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/co/denver/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TITIIREMUCO_CH48SOWA_ARTIVRU_S48-41DEFetched: 10/27/2026