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CHaRM now accepting bicycles!Eco-Cycle has added bicycles and bike parts such as seats, pedals and metal baskets to the list of hard-to-recycle items accepted at the CHaRM. Visit our CHaRM page for more details, and read about our new partnership with local non-profit Community Cycles in our latest issue of the Eco-Cycle Times.
Have you heard the news?
#1 - 7 bottles, tubs and screw-top jars are now accepted in your curbside recycling bin!Learn more about our new plastics guidelines and download our "Pocket Guide to Plastics" to end the confusion about which plastics are safer to use and which should be avoided.
click icon to download PDF (5MB)
Eco-Cycle Times spring 2009 issue now available!
Read our latest issue for curbside compost guidelines with a long list of items to help you fill up your bin (you may also print them here), new recycling educational materials in Spanish, how a local town made great strides toward Zero Waste, the state of recycling in Colorado, how YOU can help us keep plastic bags out of curbside and business recycling bins, what's happening with Zero Waste around the world and much, much more! Read on and sign up for newsletter alerts >>
Support Eco-Cycle and the environment with Zero Waste B-earthday Parties for Kids!
Eco-Cycle's Party with the Planet B-earthday Parties combine fun activities with green values. They also support a good cause: The proceeds go to Eco-Cycle’s School Recycling and Environmental Education Programs. (A portion of the cost is tax deductible.) Learn more >>
Eco-Cycle's 2009 Zero Waste Business & Community Award winners We had a blast on Earth Day honoring our best and brightest Zero Waste community partners. Thanks to all of our finalists, winners and supporters for making our event a success, and CONGRATS to our spectacular Zero Waste leaders who are making great strides toward Zero Waste throughout our community. View our community award winners >>
BUSINESS WINNERS:
Large Corporation: REI (runner up: Pearl Izumi) — Office-Based Business: Boulder Valley Credit Union (runner up: Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce) — Restaurant or High Organics Processor: Boulder Blooms (runner up: V.G. Burgers)
Zero Waste Event Services
Eco-Cycle has a variety of tools to help you host a green event:
Shop our eStore for Zero Waste products Green purchasing can seem costly or daunting, but Eco-Cycle is here to help you make it simple and meaningful. Shop our Eco-Cycle eStore where we've researched and chosen the everyday items you need for your home or business to reduce waste, conserve energy and water, and save a few bucks at the same time. Even better, a portion of your sale will benefit Eco-Cycle. Get started >>
Zero Waste is the fastest and most effective first step toward reducing climate change. According to a national report co-authored by Eco-Cycle, reducing waste disposed in landfills and incinerators can have climate benefits equivalent to removing 21% of U.S. coal-fired power plants. Download the report or learn more about Eco-Cycle's work on Zero Waste and climate change.
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Building a Zero Waste Community
We've changed our mission to reflect a new era of resource conservation in our community. We are now "Working to Build a Zero Waste Community." Eco-Cycle is partnering with individuals, schools, businesses, governments and event organizers to make ours a model Zero Waste community for the world.
Our Zero Waste community partners & how you can get involved
Look for these clings around Boulder and Broomfield Counties at participating businesses, schools, municipalities and in the homes of our volunteers to know who is helping us create a Zero Waste model for the rest of the world. Click on each cling to find out who is involved and how you can get involved.
Rather than looking at our production systems as one way and linear, we can redesign them to be cyclical, as in nature, where there is no such thing as “waste” and materials are kept in the production cycle. Zero Waste is emerging as a paradigm shift, a new, comprehensive socio-technical system that addresses our resource use from product design to disposal.
There are four central concepts to the Zero Waste system:
Changing the Rules to support resource recovery;
Producer Responsibility to hold industry liable for creating less toxic and more efficient products;
Purchasing for Zero Waste to use our buying power as our voice for Zero Waste; and
Resource Recovery Infrastructure to build the processing and recovery systems to move us toward Zero Waste. Learn more about all these aspects and the Zero Waste System.
Click on the icons above to learn more about how you can get involved with Zero Waste in our community.
Take Action
While we work toward longer-term, challenging solutions like shutting down coal-fired power plants and taking cars off the road, the easiest, first step that can produce significant climate results RIGHT NOW is to STOP landfill-produced methane. Simply by getting COOL — Compostable Organics Out of Landfills — by 2012, we can prevent potent methane emissions AND build healthier soils. Taking the COOL step replenishes carbon stocks and supports sustainable agriculture, yielding healthier foods for our population. The technology exists, the need is certain and the time to act is NOW. Get involved>>
The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way
you look at all the stuff in your life forever. Watch The Story of Stuff and then share it with a friend.
