Eco-Leader Volunteer Roles

Eco-Cycle volunteers are active throughout the community. Collectively, all Eco-Cycle volunteers are known as Eco-Leaders. They may participate in all or many of the roles available.

Not finding the perfect role for you? Contact us to design a volunteer opportunity to fit your needs. When you’re ready to get started, sign up!

Block Leaders:

The Block Leader role is the first volunteer role to be created at Eco-Cycle and still one of the most popular. Block Leaders

• Are the recycling resource for their neighborhoods. They take responsibility for anywhere from five to five hundred homes in their neighborhood.

• Twice a year, they knock on each of those neighbors’ doors, share the latest waste reduction news and offer their neighbors a copy of the Eco-Cycle Times educational newsletter, and generally serve as a source of information on the block.

Eco-Leaders take their Eco-Leadership with them wherever they go in our community. Sometimes they distribute newsletters to their church or temple, their office, or to other groups in addition to their neighbors.

Being a Region Leader takes very little time but the assistance is invaluable to Eco-Cycle. Region Leaders help save enormous amounts of staff time and resources. Region Leaders

• Deliver bundles of Eco-Cycle Times newsletters to fellow Eco-Leaders in their region (typically within a mile radius);
• And help recruit new Eco-Leaders with the goal of covering 100% of their region.

Eco-Cycle Times newsletter Bundler:

Thousands of Eco-Cycle Times newsletters are delivered by volunteer Block Leaders throughout Boulder and Broomfield Counties. Eco-Cycle Times Bundlers

• Help Eco-Cycle staff sort, bundle, and prepare newsletters for the over 600 Block Leader volunteers. Usually completed in "bundling parties," it’s a fun way to get to know other volunteers while keeping your hands busy.

Special Events Volunteers:

Our Special Events volunteers help out in many ways such as

• Unloading cars during special collections of hard-to-recycle materials;
• Helping visitors sort recyclables, compostables, and trash at Zero Waste festivals;
• Answering questions and handing out materials from our booth at local fairs and festivals;
• And much more!

Volunteering at a special event is a great way to enjoy the event and get out in the community. Visit our Environmental Calendar of Events to find out more about upcoming volunteer opportunities at special events.

Recycling Rangers:

Recycling Rangers help people recycle at drop-off centers. They

• Help less mobile visitors unload materials;
• Direct recyclers to the appropriate recycling bins;
• And answer questions.

Being a Recycling Ranger is a highly interactive and fun way to serve your community. Individuals or groups can volunteer as Recycling Rangers.

CHaRM Yard Assistants

If you enjoy hands-on projects, working outdoors and don’t mind getting a little dirty now and then, sign up for a regular shift at the Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials (CHaRM). CHaRM Yard Assistants

• Help sort shoes for reuse;
• Learn how to use a baler to create bales of plastic bags;
• Tidy up high traffic areas;
• And help out with other odds ‘n ends at the CHaRM.

This is a great way to learn directly from Eco-Cycle staff, as well as to get some hands-on experience and knowledge at our hard-to-recycle collection facility.

Zero Waste Event Kit Program Assistants

Through the Zero Waste Event Kit, Eco-Cycle provides the tools to make parties, office events and small gatherings Zero Waste. Customers place custom orders online, and that’s where the Program Assistant comes in. Eco-Leaders

• Fill orders;
• Pre-package materials for Zero Waste Event Kits;
• Prepare compost collection boxes;
• And help with other tasks as needed.

This is a great hands-on, individual opportunity for responsible volunteers.

Office Volunteers

We can use help in our offices in Boulder, Longmont or Broomfield! If you have a pretty regular schedule and can commit to a couple of hours every week or every other week, we’d love to train you to help us

• Answer the Eco-Cycle hotline;
• Assist with basic data entry;
• Organize files;
• Complete research;
• And help out with special projects.

Children’s Used Book Program Assistant

Eco-Cycle seeks to reuse items whenever possible, and the books collected at the CHaRM (Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials) are no exception. Appropriate children’s books are sorted out and given to low income and disadvantaged kids. Volunteers are needed in the Children’s Used Book Program on a regular basis to

• Sort and distribute these used children’s books to local charities.

Zero Waste Green Star Schools Volunteer

Volunteers are needed to help initiate new schools into Eco-Cycle’s Green Star Schools program. Volunteers

• Help students in the lunchroom sort their recycling and compost from their trash;
• And answer recycling and composting questions.

Volunteers should have experience working with different age levels of children.

Xeriscape Garden Volunteer

Got a green thumb? The Broomfield Recycling Center needs your help! Xeriscape Garden Volunteers

• Weed, prune and give the Xeriscape garden love and attention.

Changing the Rules

** We ask all Eco-Leaders to be on-call to participate in this volunteer opportunity.**

Eco-Cycle looks for opportunities to change the rules in our community to make recycling easier for everyone. When those opportunities arise, we call upon Eco-Leaders to help us to win campaigns by

• Writing letters to the editor;
• Speaking at city council meetings;
• Collecting signatures on petitions;
• Spreading the word to friends and neighbors;
• And whatever it takes.

An example of changing the rules involves local "equal space" ordinances. We have had recent success helping four cities (Boulder, Broomfield, Superior and Louisville) pass ordinances requiring new commercial buildings to provide as much space for recycling bins as they do for trash bins so businesses and apartment residents can recycle at the curb.

If you have a friend who would make a great Eco-Leader, please let them know about our volunteer program!

 

We look forward to working with you to make Boulder County a model Zero Waste community!

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