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Recycling Bulletin

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Recycling Bulletin #26
news from a national leader in campus recycling

May 27, 2004

Last call for survey respondents! One lucky person who responds to the survey CU Recycling emailed in April will win a $50 gift certificate to Amazing Recycled Products (www.amazingrecycled.com). Thank you to email bulletin readers who already submitted your survey answers - you have been entered into the drawing which will take place at the Colorado Summit for Recycling on June 8.

If you haven't yet responded, and would like a copy of the survey emailed to you, please send an email to cure@colorado.edu with the subject title "Survey Request." Please respond by June 1.

In this Bulletin:

CU Recycling Report: Students Donate Usable Items, Bolder Boulder Recycling

Local Recycling Info: Backyard Compost Learning Center Opens

Industry News: Aluminum Waste and Recycling Decreases

Frightening Fact: Colorado Sinks to Bottom of National Recycling List

Glimmer of Hope: Boulder Floats to Top

Get Involved / Upcoming Events

1. CU Recycling Report

CU Students Keep Good Stuff Out of the Landfill

During the two weeks leading up to residence hall move-out in early May, residence hall students at CU Boulder donated close to four tons of reusable clothing, household items and food to local charities.

CU Recycling coordinates a donations program in each CU residence hall at the end of every spring semester to encourage students to keep their reusable items out of trash dumpsters and instead donate usable goods to charitable causes. This year more than 7,155 pounds (more than 3.5 tons) of reusable clothing and household items were donated to Cerebral Palsy of Colorado, plus an estimated 600 pounds of food, personal care products and textbooks were given to Boulder's Homeless Shelter.

Extending waste reduction efforts off-campus, CU Recycling staff and volunteers distributed 1000 "move-out" guides to student houses on the Hill, suggesting alternatives to trash when getting rid of unwanted items. A list of local charitable organizations in Boulder that gladly accept clothing, furniture and appliances is available here.

 

48,000 Bolder Boulder Participants Can Recycle at CU

Memorial Day's annual Bolder Boulder 10K race is expected to bring more than 48,000 people to the CU campus. CU Recycling will be ready to recycle the waste from one of the largest road races in the world.

In 2003, over half the waste generated by the race was recovered for recycling. Beverage containers dropped into recycling bins by thirsty runners, corrugated cardboard and other packaging generated by lunch packing and vendors at Bolder Boulder expo, and newsletter recycling totalled over 13 tons (26,963 pounds).

CU Recycling has been collecting recyclables at the Bolder Boulder race for close to 15 years. Since 1999, almost 38 tons (75,759 pounds) of recyclable materials have been collected.

2. Local Recycling Info

Backyard Composting Learning Center Opens

An educational and hands-on Compost Learning Center opened May 22 at the Boulder County Recycling Center. The Compost Learning Center demonstrates six different compost bins that residents can use in their own backyards to compost household yard waste (leaves, grass, garden waste) and food scraps. Educational signs guide visitors through the composting and worm bin composting process, and brochures on composting and sustainable landscaping are available.

This summer the CSU Cooperative Extension of Boulder County Master Gardeners will design and maintain a xeriscape garden plot at the site that will feature half the bed planted in finished compost and the other half planted in typical unamended Colorado soil. Visitors will get to see first-hand the benefits of using compost.

The Compost Learning Center and Boulder County Recycling Center are located at 1901 63rd Street in Boulder, just north of the intersection of Arapahoe and 63rd Streets.

3. Industry News

Aluminum Beverage Can Waste Passes the "One Trillion" Mark

Recent data reveal that over one trillion aluminum soft drink and beer cans have been thrown in the trash - not the recycling bin - since Americans began buying cans 40 years ago. In addition, the national aluminum recycling rate has dropped to its lowest point in 25 years.

Changing consumer habits are partially responsible for the rising tide of container waste, explained Container Recycling Institute research director Jenny Gitlitz. "In 1992 when aluminum can recycling peaked at 65%, people were still doing most of their food and beverage consumption, and their recycling, at home. More people eat and drink on the go today, and as a result, the aluminum can recycling rate has dropped well below 50%."

"The recycling picture is getting worse, not better, but it could be turned around," Gitlitz said. "We could achieve a recycling rate of 80 - 90% with a national bottle bill." According to Pat Franklin, CRI executive director, "Beverage container deposit laws, or 'bottle bills', exist in eleven U.S. states, and the 5- or 10-cent refundable deposit on beverage bottles and cans routinely achieves recycling rates of 70% to 95%."

The Container Recycling Institute is a non-profit national organization that studies beverage container sales and recycling trends, and promotes policies to reverse wasting. A press release with more information is available at their website, http://www.container-recycling.org/ A letter can also be sent from the website to major beverage producers asking them to step forward and take responsibility for their beverage cans and bottles.

4. Frightening Fact

In Colorado, our waste is growing three times as fast as the state's population. And just 2.8 percent of the state's municipal waste gets recycled, according to the 2003 State of Garbage in America survey. Among 47 reporting states, only Mississippi, Oklahoma and Wyoming recycled less.

Colorado generates about 2,200 pounds of municipal waste per person each year - lower than the national average - but recycles only one-tenth as much as the average state, according to the report, a collaboration between BioCycle magazine and the Earth Engineering Center of Columbia University.

Recycling habits vary widely within the United States. Nationally, the report estimates that 27 percent of municipal solid wastes are recycled. Regionally, recycling ranged from 38 percent of municipal wastes in the West to 9 percent in Rocky Mountain states.

Read more about U.S. and Colorado waste trends in the Denver Post's 5/23/04 article "Convenient, trendy, but such a waste."

5. Glimmer of Hope

One Colorado city known for its efforts to swim against the waste stream is Boulder.

Kara Mertz, who oversees the city's curbside recycling program, said single-family homes in Boulder recycle 49 percent of their household wastes, and apartment dwellers recycle 13 percent.

"We have the highest single- family recycling rate of any voluntary program in the country," she said.

(excerpted from Denver Post 5/23/04 article noted above)

6. Get Involved / Upcoming Events

Visit EcoCycle at Boulder Creek Fest tables May 29 - 31
Get local recycling information from Boulder County's non-profit recycling experts. EcoCycle volunteers will be tabling at the Boulder Creek Fest, Saturday May 29 through Monday May 31, along the Boulder Creek path near downtown Boulder.

Recycle at the Bolder Boulder 10K Race
Monday, May 31
Runners and walkers in the Bolder Boulder road race are encouraged to recycle. Recyclable beverage containers can be recycled in bins at aid stations along the citizens' race course, around the perimeter of Folsom Stadium, in Balch Fieldhouse, and in the expo area located just south of CU's Duane Physics and Benson Earth Science buildings.

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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