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.
Ever wondered how we sort your recycling, especially now that it's all collected in one bin? Watch this 15 minute video on the Boulder County Recycling Center and follow all your materials through the sorting process as we prepare to send them off to be made into new products. You'll see why we created our single-stream guidelines and why it's important to keep plastic bags and shredded paper out of your curbside recycling bin.
Does It Go, In the Bin?!?!
A fun and informative recycling game for the whole family.
Plastic Bags—they are the #1 contaminant in the Dirty Dozen list of Recycling's Most UNwanted Materials in Boulder County. Workers have to constantly stop the conveyor belts to remove bags tangled in sorting equipment. Once removed, they are added to the heap of bags bound for the landfill. These inefficiencies waste precious time and money. Please help us keep the recycling stream clean by keeping bags out of your recycling bin!
Bagged recyclables—they are #2 in the Dirty Dozen list of Recycling's Most UNwanted Materials in Boulder County. Workers have to slow the conveyor belts to rip open bags that contain recyclables and then add the bag to the heap of bags bound for the landfill. These inefficiencies waste precious time and money. Please help us keep the recycling stream clean by keeping bags out of your recycling bin!
The city of Longmont, Colorado recently switched to a single-stream recycling system. This video from Eco-Cycle is intended to introduce the concept and ease of the new system.
Casa de la Esperanza apartment recycling
The residents at the Casa de la Esperanza apartment complex collected trash, sorted recyclables and created new recycling bins to mark the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service in Longmont, Colorado with the help of Eco-Cycle and many volunteers. January, 2010.
