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Recycling Bulletin

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Recycling Bulletin #21
news from a national leader in campus recycling

July 23, 2003

In this Bulletin:

CU Recycling Report: Recycling Saves CU money

Local Recycling Info: Recycle Athletic Shoes; Boulder Recycling More

Industry News: Steel, Paper Recycling Rates Rise; Aluminum Sinks

Frightening Fact: magazine virgin paper use

Glimmer of Hope: Canadian Harry Potter saves trees

Get Involved / Upcoming Events: Campus facility tour, Volunteer to recycle cardboard, Environmental purchasing

1. CU Recycling Report

Business Review Finding: Recycling Saves CU Money
Recycling is less expensive than landfill disposal at CU-Boulder. An internal review recently confirmed that CU Recycling provides cost-containment, net revenue-generation, and other financial benefits.
Last year, recycling provided a net savings of $175,000 to the University. Every ton recycled at CU saves the University over $300. Every dollar spent on recycling is comparable to spending $2.12 for landfill disposal. Recycling has also insulated against garbage rate increases (64 percent since 1996) and has avoided the purchase of expensive trash hauling equipment.

These recent findings were the result of a study conducted over several months at the request of Vice Chancellor for Administration Paul Tabolt and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Ron Stump. A newly formed Recycling Financial Advisory Board will be charged with monitoring financial and environmental aspects of CU’s recycling program. “Now that we have a good understanding of the financial and environmental aspects of the program, we have even more incentive to keep the program moving forward,” Tabolt said in a University press release.

A summary of findings and recommendations as well as the 82-page Business Review is available here.

2. Local Recycling Info

Used athletic shoes can be recycled through EcoCycle’s CHaRM
Worn out athletic shoes, too old to be donated to a thrift store, can now be recycled when dropped off at EcoCycle’s Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials (CHaRM). A material used to resurface athletic fields, courts, tracks and playgrounds is reclaimed from the athletic shoes. Only athletic shoes with a distinct upper, cushioned mid-sole, and outer sole are accepted (no hiking boots, dress shoes, winter boots, sandals, slippers or shoes with metal parts, cleats, zippers, spikes or mud).

CHaRM is located at 5030 “old” Pearl. Other hard-to-recycle items that are accepted at CHaRM include clean, dry plastic bags; books; computers, TVs, fax machines, cell phones and some other electronics (for a drop-off fee). See the EcoCycle Web site for more information.

Boulder’s recycling rates are up
Ninety percent of single-family homes in the City of Boulder participate in curbside recycling programs, with 49% percent of residential waste being diverted for recycling and fewer tons being landfilled. Over 22,000 tons were recycled in 2002 by Boulder residents, including yard waste dropped off and collected during Spring Clean-Ups. More information available here.

3. Industry News

Steel recycling rate moves up
The ferrous scrap recycling rate in the U.S. reached 70.7 percent in 2002, reports the Steel Recycling Institute (Pittsburgh). Automobile recycling topped 100 percent, at 100.6 percent last year. This is due in part to lighter-weight autos being produced than in past years. Recovery of structural steel from construction and demolition projects came in at an impressive 95 percent. Appliance recycling levels reached 86.6 percent and steel can recycling totaled 58.5 percent.

Paper recovery goal raised
The domestic paper industry has boosted its paper recovery target to 55 percent by 2012. Eight years ago, the American Forest & Paper Association (Washington) had set a recovery goal of 50 percent, which is expected to be reached this year. Paper recovery levels have nearly doubled since 1987, when the rate was 29 percent.

Aluminum can recycling rate falls
For the fifth consecutive year, the aluminum can recycling rate has declined. At 53.4 percent for 2002, the rate is 12.1 percentage points under its highest level in 1997 and 2.0 percentage points below the previous year’s figure. The amount of cans melted at domestic smelters (including imports), plus the amount of can exports, reached 1.59 billion pounds last year, down 4.3 percent from 2001 and at the lowest level since 1988. The dip was caused in part by the 1.2 percent decline in the average weight of aluminum cans, to 33.79 cans per pound.

Reader beware: the aluminum industry, can producers and the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (Washington) use a one-of-a-kind definition of the recycling rate because their calculation includes both scrap exports as well as imports.

Source: Resource Recycling magazine

4. Frightening Fact

Every second, a tree is cut down to produce paper for the 12 billion magazines published in the U.S. - that’s about 35 million trees each year!

Less than five percent of U.S. magazine paper contains post-consumer recycled fiber. Find out more about the magazine industry’s wasteful use of virgin paper, and what groups like Co-op America are doing to get more magazines onto environmentally preferable papers here.

5. Glimmer of Hope

Almost a million copies of the Canadian version of the just released book “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” are being printed by Canadian publisher Raincoast Books on 100 percent recycled, endangered forest free paper. By not using virgin paper to print the 935,000 books, Canadian environmental groups estimate the publisher will save almost 30,000 trees, conserve 20,248 BTU’s of electricity (195 years of an average American home’s power use), and save 2,679,548 pounds of greenhouse gases (equal to 2.4 million miles traveled by car with average fuel efficiency).

Green Press Initiative is pressuring publishers, including the U.S. publisher of the Harry Potter books, to secure endangered-forest free commitments. For more information visit Green Press Initiative.

6. Get Involved / Upcoming Events

Campus Intermediate Processing Facility Tour: Thursday, August 21, 3 - 4 pm
Tour CU’s recycling facility where students process five tons of materials for recycling each day. Learn about waste reduction, how to recycle on campus, and what happens to the materials after they leave your recycling bin. Northeast of Folsom Stadium on Stadium Drive. (303)492-8307 for more information.

CU Residence Hall move-in Volunteers
Volunteers are needed to assist CU Recycling with cardboard recycling during move-in to CU Residence Halls, August 18 - September 2. Volunteers flatten cardboard, point new students to recycling bins, and help answer recycling questions. Call 303-492-8307 or contact cure@colorado.edu for more information or to sign up.

Environmentally Preferable Purchasing database available
Before you purchase a product for your office or home, consider whether there might be a more environment-friendly product available. The Environmental Protection Agency has an online database for over 600 product categories.

Subscribe to the CU Recycling Bulletin

The Recycling Bulletin is circulated via a closed list;  only CU Recycling has access to the rest of the subscriber list.  Subscribers' names and e-mail addresses are not available to any other group or used for any other purpose.

About University of Colorado at Boulder Recycling

The University of Colorado's recycling program is a non-profit, campus-based organization whose mission is to instill awareness of the benefits of waste reduction and recycling.  CU Recycling is widely regarded as one of the nation's leading campus programs. Awards have been given by such groups as the EPA, National Recycling Coalition, and the Office of Federal Environmental Executive, who in 2000, announced CU Recycling the model campus program in the United States.

The university community is encouraged to get involved in CU Recycling's many activities.  For more information, call (303)492-8307 or visit http://www.colorado.edu/recycle

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