Bottles packaging EPR Colorado: what a plastic bottle costs per 1,000 packs, 2027

What this page estimates for a plastic bottle in Colorado

The plastic bottle on this page is a clear PET bottle closed with a plastic screw cap. It has 2 components, each matched to the published rates of the 2027 schedule of Circular Action Alliance (Colorado PRO) for Colorado; weight times rate gives a fee per 1,000 packs in USD. The figures are estimates built on starting weights.

What is in a plastic bottle

The bottle has two components: the PET body and the plastic cap. A label or shrink sleeve is not weighed in the starting estimate.

Starting weights, an Instica estimate for a typical pack and not a measured weight: bottle (PET plastic, 22 g) and cap (plastic, 2 g).

Bottle

PET plastic, 22 g (Instica starting estimate)

Cap

plastic, 2 g (Instica starting estimate)

Worked example: 1,000 plastic bottles in Colorado

One plastic bottle of the Medium (about 16 to 20 oz) size weighs 24 g in total. For each component the table gives its weight, the matched published rates, and the fee for 1,000 packs.

Added together, the estimate for 1,000 packs is $9.57 to $23.77.

Divide by 1,000 for a single pack: about $0.0096 to $0.0238.

What the fee tool returns for 1,000 plastic bottles in Colorado

Entered into the public fee tool for Colorado (2027 schedule, effective January 1, 2027), 1,000 plastic bottles give the figures below. The tool is the same engine that prices a report, so this page and the tool agree.

The tool total is $9.57 at the lowest matched rates and $23.77 at the highest.

Which published rates were matched in Colorado

10 published rates were matched to the pack in Colorado from the 2027 schedule. Each is quoted from the programme’s own fee table; the page does not change the rate or round it.

Bottle, 22 g: 7 matched rates

Cap, 2 g: 3 matched rates

How size changes the fee for a plastic bottle

The weight of a plastic bottle depends on its size. The table prices each of the 3 sizes with the same matched rates, so the only thing that changes between rows is the weight.

Each component of the plastic bottle priced at every size, at the matched rates for Colorado.

What if the plastic bottle used another material?

Suppose the main component of the plastic bottle, weighing 22 g, were made of another material. The table prices the same weight in each material class that Colorado publishes a rate for, at the lowest published rate in that class.

A fee comparison only: another material changes weight and protection too.

What a larger run of plastic bottles costs in Colorado

Fees scale with the number of packs, because the schedule charges by mass. The table repeats the worked example for larger runs of the Medium (about 16 to 20 oz) plastic bottle in Colorado. Nothing else changes between rows: the same weights and the same matched rates apply.

Taken as a whole, the pack is priced at $0.3987 to $0.9902 per kilogram of packaging, so a heavier pack costs more in proportion to its weight.

Flat fee bands, registration fees and minimum charges sit outside this per-kilogram table.

How the fee for plastic bottles has moved on Colorado schedules

Colorado has published 2 per-mass fee schedules that price this pack. The same Medium (about 16 to 20 oz) plastic bottles are priced on each below, with the same weights and the same matching rules, so only the published rates differ.

The same matched categories on each Colorado schedule, per kilogram; a dash means the schedule does not publish that category.

The fee schedule behind these figures for Colorado

The rates come from the 2027 schedule of Circular Action Alliance (Colorado PRO) for Colorado, effective January 1, 2027. The facts below record where it was published and what else the schedule charges.

The schedule also lists 4 flat fee bands for small producers. They can replace the per-kilogram fee and are not part of the estimate on this page.

The schedule describes an eco-modulation of its rates, so the fee a producer pays can be adjusted up or down from the base rates shown here.

Ways to lower the fee on a plastic bottle

Bottle weight falls when the wall is thinner, and many programmes publish a lower rate for clear PET than for coloured or opaque PET.

The cap is often a different plastic from the body, and some schedules price caps and lids on a separate line.

A deposit or take-back scheme can take a bottle out of the producer fee schedule altogether, so check whether one covers your drink or product.

Bottles of the same capacity can differ in weight by several grams between suppliers, so weigh your own bottle and cap before relying on a starting estimate.