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| Welcome to our First eNewsletter! We are practicing what we preach and hope we can reach you without paper. And more importantly, we hope you will help us spread the word. Share this with others and please reprint our articles! You can simply copy and paste from this e-newsletter. Larimer County Offers Free Service to Rid Households of Hazardous Waste By Cheryl Kolus, Larimer County  Many
household items from lawn chemicals to car products to cleaning supplies
should not be thrown away with the trash. These items contain hazardous
substances that can contaminate the environment and cause dangers
for landfill workers and garbage truck drivers. So, what do you do
if you have leftover household chemicals? Bring them to the Larimer
County Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility. Drop them off
free of charge, and be assured that they will be reused, recycled
or disposed of correctly. Also, take some time to browse the Fort
Collins facility's Drop 'N' Swap for others' unused items that you
might need-they're free, too!Larimer County Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility and Drop 'N' Swap (Larimer County Landfill) 5887 S Taft Hill Rd, Fort Collins 970-498-5760 Hours: Tues, Thurs, Fri and Sat 9:00 am to 4:00 pm Estes Park Household Hazardous Waste Collection (Estes Park Solid Waste Transfer Station) 455 Elm Rd, Estes Park 970-586-6478 or 970-586-5740 Call for hours or more information. Attention Small Businesses: For a small fee, Larimer County's Business Hazardous Waste Program helps qualified businesses properly dispose of small quantities of hazardous waste. Call 970-498-5760 for an information packet.  Students: Get Your Creative Juices Flowing and Enter the Reusable Art Contest By Cheryl Kolus, Larimer County  Larimer County Solid Waste is sponsoring the 6th Annual "Reusable Art" contest for K-12 students throughout the county. The entry deadline is April 4, with three grand prize winners being chosen later that month.All artwork must be made from trash or scrap items. Entries can be designed to hang on a wall or from a ceiling, or to be free-standing. If free-standing, it must not be more than 18 inches wide or deep. Twelve finalists will be chosen by April 14, and from them, three grand prize winners will be selected, each winning a cash prize and the chance to have their artwork on public display. The remaining nine finalists will be awarded a prize package of "recycling goodies." The contest is being held in conjunction with an April open house at the Garbage Garage, Solid Waste's waste and recycling education center. Finalists' artwork will be on display at the open house (scheduled for April 19 from 10am to 2pm), and visitors will vote for the grand prize winners. The winners' artwork will become part of a Garbage Garage exhibit until the next "reusable art" contest is held the following year. For a complete set of contest rules, or for more information about the Garbage Garage, visit www.larimer.org/solidwaste or call 970-498-5772.
Back Issues
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| What's in YOUR Trash? Study Results Show What Makes Up Our Trash By Cheryl Kolus, Larimer County
Larimer County Solid Waste completed a waste composition study in 2006, with the final results arriving from the consulting group last year. MSW Consultants (Atlanta, GA) was contracted to sort trash for a week each in September and December. The contractors took incoming loads of trash from four sources—residential waste, commercial waste, self-hauled waste and construction and demolition waste—and sorted it into 44 categories. They provided aggregate results (from all four sources put together) as well as individual results based on each source. Wastes coming from both commercial and residential sources were rather similar in their breakdown, with paper products (about 31%), food waste (about 17%) and "other" (also about 17%) rounding out the top three groupings from both sources. "Other" includes construction and demolition materials as well as miscellaneous items like electronics, diapers, and carpet. The amount of paper in the trash decreased compared with a similar, but less detailed, study done in 1998 showing paper made up 44% of residential trash. "Looking at just paper, we seem to be doing better at recycling than in the past, but I'm confident we can do better still," said Stephen Gillette, Solid Waste Department Director. "This study will help us determine what areas are important to focus on in the coming years as we try to divert more trash away from the landfill by recycling, composting or some other method." Complete results can be found on the department's website at www.larimer.org/solidwaste.
Kick the Battery-Wasting Habit! By Debbie Bidwell, volunteer editor  Are
you using rechargeable batteries? If not, why not? They're a bit more
expensive when you first purchase them, but you can use them over…and
over…and over…and over again. Think of all the gadgets you
have around your house that use batteries: cameras, remote controls,
clocks, toys, flashlights, GPS units, smoke alarms, cordless phones,
radios, portable music players-the list goes on. Using rechargeable
batteries and the necessary battery rechargers means you may go years
without having to purchase new batteries, saving you money in the
long run.Do you plug in your cell phone to recharge it, or do you have a digital camera that recharges in a dock? If so, then you're already using rechargeable batteries. And you know how easy it is to recharge those items. You can do virtually the same thing with AA, AAA, C, D and 9V batteries if you just get into the habit. An added benefit of using rechargeable batteries is it reduces the number of batteries thrown away and dumped into the landfill. And that's a good thing, not just because it's wasteful to use more batteries than you have to, but also because batteries have hazardous materials in them, and that's not healthy for the landfill, the environment, or for you and me! So, the next time you buy batteries, walk past the non-rechargeables and step up to the rechargeables. You'll be making a positive difference for your wallet and for our environment. When it comes time to dispose of batteries of any type, bring them to the Larimer County Hazardous Waste Facility for free (for residents) or for a small fee (for qualified businesses). See http://www.larimer.org/solidwaste/hazwaste.htm for details.
Local Companies Swell the Ranks of Recyclers By Susie Gordon, City of Fort Collins  In
recent months, Fort Collins has witnessed a significant increase in
recycling activities by businesses from offices that recycle paper,
archive files electronically, and purchase biodegradable tableware
for working lunches, to restaurants that collect waste cooking oil
(used to make biodiesel fuel) and order products that use less packaging.John Armstrong is a city planner who helps local companies find workable solutions through Fort Collins' voluntary Climate Wise program. He has noted that throughout the country, a movement toward environmental- and economic-sustainability has swept the business community. "Almost regardless of their size," he says, "companies seem to be recognizing that many of the recycling programs and environmental practices available for employees at home are transferable to the business world." Many of the nearly 80 companies that have joined Climate Wise since its inception in 2000 have been able to immediately apply recycling strategies, and in the process reduce their trash bills. For instance, Hewlett-Packard in Fort Collins has made a long-standing commitment to eliminate waste from its operations, and in 2006 documented an 87 percent diversion rate. As part of policies to promote sustainability, the Poudre School District has implemented vigorous in-house recycling programs that students help organize, and it has built new schools that generate 90 percent less waste than conventional construction projects. Even some neighborhood coffee shops and local churches have adopted waste reduction measures, such as composting coffee grounds, opting for reusable mugs and plates, and reusing and recycling printed materials.
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