NCLA Sues Colorado to Stop Unconstitutional Recycling Regulation Scheme, Pausing National Trend
National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors v. Jill Hunsaker Ryan in her official capacity as Executive Director of
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Washington, D.C., July 30, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The New Civil Liberties Alliance and the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW) appreciate the benefits of recycling—as long as recycling programs comply with the Constitution. But Colorado’s Producer Responsibility Program for Statewide Recycling Act does not: it gives away recycling regulatory power to the private, D.C.-based Circular Action Alliance (CAA), controlled by industry giants that directly compete with smaller businesses distributing everything from groceries to household goods into and throughout the state. To sell in Colorado, the Act forces most companies that distribute packaged consumer products to become dues-paying CAA members and give up their right to challenge the CAA’s actions in court.
The statute empowers the CAA to set recycling fees companies must pay—then prohibits those companies from noting those fees on bills where their customers might see the actual cost of the current program and who is paying for it. The CAA hides its exact methods for determining what the fees will be.
Several other states have already adopted similar schemes. They also hand government power to the CAA and place the direct costs on companies that will pass them along to citizens who cannot vote on the policies. The CAA uses money it collects from its members to further its agenda nationwide to replicate this unconstitutional system.
Representing the NAW, NCLA filed the NAW v. Ryan lawsuit today asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado for a preliminary injunction to stop Colorado’s scheme immediately, determined to end this unaccountable, hidden taxation before it spreads.
Colorado violates the Fourteenth Amendment right to due process of law both by delegating legislative power to a private party, the CAA, and by forcing distributors to give up the right to sue to challenge its actions. In a triple violation of the First Amendment, Colorado mandates that distributors join the CAA, prohibits them from telling customers about the CAA’s fees on bills, and allows the CAA to use this money from unwilling member companies to promote its views.
NCLA released the following statements:
“Colorado’s new law violates the Constitution many times over: by outsourcing lawmaking power to a private group controlled by industry insiders, and by hiding the program’s true cost from the public.”
— Andrew Morris, Senior Litigation Counsel, NCLA
“We look forward to seeing the Court end Colorado’s unconstitutional scheme.”
— Jacob Huebert, Senior Litigation Counsel, NCLA
For more information visit the case page here.
ABOUT NCLA
NCLA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group founded by prominent legal scholar Philip Hamburger to protect constitutional freedoms from violations by the Administrative State. NCLA’s public-interest litigation and other pro bono advocacy strive to tame the unlawful power of state and federal agencies and to foster a new civil liberties movement that will help restore Americans’ fundamental rights.
Joe Martyak New Civil Liberties Alliance 703-403-1111 joe.martyak@ncla.legal
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