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“Hi,
can you tell me where I can recycle my obsolete computer?
How about an old stereo…hardbound books…textiles…furniture…televisions…(insert
your favorite item here)?” EcoCycle gets 15 calls a
day with questions like these from recyclers who are trying
to do the right thing with products and materials that no
longer serve a useful purpose. Help is on the way as EcoCycle
prepares to launch a major new project.
Residents currently have two options
for most of those “used but not used up” items
– throw them away, or store them in our houses or garages
in hopes that someday there will be an alternative to the
landfill. Many of us are doing this now with products like
computers and electronics – items too costly and too
toxic to dump into the trash can. They gather dust beneath
stairs and on garage shelves in ever increasing numbers,
as new technologies drive them to obsolescence at a faster
and faster pace. What is needed in Boulder County is a place
where these products can be collected for re-use or recycling.
EcoCycle is working now to develop such a facility, which
we call the Center for Harder-to-Recycle Materials.
Is there a need?
Without a doubt. EcoCycle’s recent home computer recycling
events in Broomfield and Longmont have demonstrated that
Boulder County residents are loathe to throw away items
we inherently know still hold value. Last November, the
city of Boulder surveyed residents asking what additional
recycling or composting services they would most like to
see. Fifty-four percent of the 650 respondents voted for
the development of a Harder-to-Recycle facility, almost
twice the support received by any other waste diversion
activity. As Boulder County works to achieve its 50% waste
diversion goal by 2005, a Harder-to-Recycle facility could
reuse and recycle 7% or more of the waste stream. The need
– and impact – is real.
How will the HTR center work?
There’s an old adage in the recycling business that
applies to most materials: if you can collect enough of
something, you can find someone who can use it. In essence
the HTR center will be a green transfer station – a
collection point for discards that continue to have value
though the market for them may not be clear or even established.
For example, there is a slowly emerging market for recycled
carpeting. EcoCycle has a long and successful history of
helping create new markets, and, if we had adequate facilities,
would be actively pursuing old carpet collections and marketing
today.
So when will the Hard-to-Recycle Center
open? As early as this fall – at least in a limited
fashion. With the opening of the Boulder County Recycling
Center in July, EcoCycle’s current processing center
on Old Pearl Street in Boulder will be freed up to begin
accepting a limited number of hard-to-recycle materials
on a temporary basis. Over time the program will expand
to accept a full range of materials, will include a community
center offering recycling and environmental education and
resources, will offer “Drop-and-Swap” and other
reuse/recycle programs, and will feature other amenities
as well – maybe even a coffee shop!
Our challenge now is to find a permanent
home for this facility. We are currently working with the
city of Boulder on a plan to locate the Center for Harder-to-Recycle
Materials along 63rd Street near the Boulder County Recycling
Center, making waste diversion and discard management that
much easier for Boulder and Boulder County residents. Keep
an eye on EcoCycle’s our web site and the newspapers
for more information and news about the development of this
much needed, and much demanded, facility.
So the next time you have a question
like, “Where do I recycle an old mattress?”, the
answer will be EcoCycle!
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