Look for this decal on the doors of retailers and manufacturers taking responsibility for the products and packaging they produce or distribute.

Partners for Responsible Recycling

To go beyond recycling to a truly revolutionary shift in environmental conservation and societal planning, we need the most exciting and important piece of the Zero Waste system: Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). Rather than allowing producers to create products that put the costs for processing cleanup, discard, and health impacts on the taxpayer, EPR holds producers, manufacturers, importers and retailers responsible for the total life-cycle of their product or packaging— from design to production to discard.

In the European Union, the EPR movement is being forged in the legislative halls, where regulations are being written to hold manufacturers responsible for the full environmental impacts of their products. In the U.S., where federal legislation is far less likely, we are working to create a successful model where manufacturers and retailers voluntarily partner with programs like Eco-Cycle’s.

Thirty years ago, at the beginning of the recycling revolution, common citizens seized the opportunity to take positive actions on a daily basis and be part of the solution to curb environmental degradation. It happened because people voluntarily came to the understanding that they have the ability and responsibility to live a less wasteful lifestyle. Now we stand on the edge of a new revolution where business has a responsibility to make money without sacrificing and decimating our environmental support systems. Is it possible for environmental responsibility and capitalism to go together? Yes, and we have three companies here in Boulder County who are proving it to the world.

Our Partners for Responsible Recycling

The Camera and ListenUp are two local business that have joined our unique Partners for Responsible Recycling (PRR) program. These businesses understand that they are the source of a specific waste flow in our community, and as responsible community members, they have partnered with Eco-Cycle to help create a recycling opportunity for these materials at the Eco-Cycle/City of Boulder Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials (CHaRM).

Taking responsibility as the largest local generator of plastic newspaper sleeves, the Camera partnered with Eco-Cycle to financially support the creation of a plastic bag recycling program. Instead of just adding to the waste pile and turning the other way, the Daily Camera turned their community liability into something positive: plastic lumber, an amazing,durable product that replaces traditional lumber in the construction of outdoor decking. The Daily Camera has embraced this responsibility voluntarily even though it costs them money.

Recognizing electronics are a significant and toxic part of our community’s waste stream, ListenUp, a local retailer of high-quality home entertainment systems, became a PRR to help reduce our waste and protect our local environment. In addition to being a financial sponsor of the CHaRM, ListenUp will give you a coupon that they paid for every time you buy something at their store. The coupon lets you recycle an electronic product at the CHaRM. They also reward any citizen who recycles electronic scrap at the CHaRM with a coupon worth $50 off at their store. It’s a creative partnership to generate less waste and keep toxins out of our water and soils.

Become a Partner for Responsible Recycling

As Eco-Cycle seeks to create more recycling solutions for hard-to-recycle materials, we need more business partners to help us keep their products out of the landfill:

• Local grocery stores to join the Camera as supporters of the plastic bag recycling program
• Electronic manufacturers and retailers to join ListenUp for our electronics recycling program
• Clothing manufacturers and stores to support our textile recycling program
• Cell phone manufacturers to support our cell phone recycling program
• Industry partners to support the recycling of books, shoes, printer cartridges, and block foam packaging (Styrofoam).

If you own or work for a company that wants to take responsibility for the products it generates, please join us as a Partner for Responsible Recycling to keep these resources out of the landfill and help fulfill our responsibility to future generations.

Contact Anne Mudgett at 303-444-6634 or anne@ecocycle.org to learn more about how becoming a Partner for Responsible Recycling can benefit both your business and the community.