Accelerating the Circular Economy in Colorado: A Pathway for Entrepreneurs
A Guest Blog from Circular Economy Development Center (CEDC)
Colorado is transforming how we think about waste, materials, and sustainability—and for entrepreneurs, that means opportunity. As someone interested in SCAPE, you’re in the right place at the right time to help lead this shift and build a business that’s both profitable and purpose-driven.
At the center of this transformation is Circular Colorado, a Colorado-based nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating Colorado’s transition to a circular economy through the development and implementation of tangible, actionable, and measurable projects that support the creation of a circular economy in Colorado and the region.
What Is a Circular Economy—and Why Does it Matter to you?
A circular economy is an economic model in which materials and products are kept in circulation as long as possible. Instead of the traditional manufacturing and consumption model, circular systems are regenerative by design. That means:
Using renewable and recycled inputs
Designing products for durability and reuse
Recovering materials at the end of their life and feeding them back into the system
For entrepreneurs, this presents opportunities for: reduced material costs, stronger supply chains, new customer bases, and access to funding that supports sustainability and innovation.
Real-World Impact: Pretred’s Circular Model
The Circular Economy Development Center (CEDC) is a program established by the Colorado state legislature to grow existing markets, create new markets, and provide necessary infrastructure, systems, logistics, and marketing to create a sustainable circular economy for recycled commodities in Colorado. Designed and operated by Circular Colorado, the CEDC has been supporting businesses for the past two years looking to establish or strengthen circular business models in Colorado.
An example of how the CEDC is supporting circularity in Colorado is with Pretred, a Colorado company that makes barriers out of waste tires. The CEDC worked with Pretred to develop a grant proposal for funding from the Colorado Circular Communities (C3) Enterprise to expand its operations to process waste tires into crumb rubber, the material needed to manufacture the barriers, eliminating the need to import the crumb rubber. Pretred was recently awarded a grant from C3 that will allow them to integrate the processing of tires into crumb rubber as part of their manufacturing process, thus converting millions of Colorado’s waste tires into barriers that can then be recycled again at the end of life.
This is circularity in motion: local materials, local manufacturing, long-term products, and a zero-waste future.
Bringing Circularity to Rural Colorado: The Circular Transportation Network
EcoAction Partners pose with the CTN truck and plastic film collected from Telluride businesses.
Launched in January 2025, the Circular Transportation Network (CTN) is a pilot program helping rural and mountain communities and businesses increase their participation in the circular economy.
By using a backhaul logistics model, recyclable materials that were previously going to landfills are now being collected at no cost to the community or business and transported to regional hubs. There, they are aggregated, baled, and sent via truck or rail to end markets and manufacturers who use the recycled materials to manufacture new products.
Get Involved
Now is the time to align your business with the growing circular economy in Colorado. Whether you’re building a waste-reducing product, rethinking logistics, or helping materials stay in use longer, there’s a place for you—and support to help you grow.
To see if the CEDC can help your business plug into Colorado’s circular economy, contact info@circularcolorado.org
