Zero Waste isn’t just happening overseas and in exotic lands. Right here in Boulder County local companies are initiating Zero Waste policies and strategies to reduce their impact on the environment.

Boulder Co-op Market: A Zero Waste, Low-Impact Business Model
The Boulder Co-op Market is seeing how far one business can go to reduce, reuse, and recycle their way to Zero Waste, minimize their environmental impact, and offer their customers the most environmentally-friendly products and services possible.

Beyond recycling everything they can through their Eco-Cycle collection service, the Co-op is even recycling their unusual, non-traditional materials. Plastic bags are taken to the Eco-Cycle/Boulder Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials (CHaRM), Styrofoam peanuts received in shipments are taken to local mailing centers for reuse, and unsold food waste is composted locally. The Co-op is also working with their local vendors to take back cardboard and packaging they receive to be used again in future shipments.

All food and produce sold in the store is organic and non-GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms). Bulk items abound, from soap and miso to eggs and tofu. Visit their café and you can munch down an organic lunch with reusable eating-ware and wipe your chin with a reusable, 100% hemp cloth napkin. The walls are painted with low-VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) paints and the floors and surfaces are cleaned with non-toxic cleaners. Even the building itself is environmentally-friendly, complete with solar panels, energy-efficient lighting and reused building supplies. Congratulations, Boulder Co-op Market, for your commitment to a low-impact business!

Daily Camera: Adopting Producer Responsibility
In a Zero Waste world, manufacturers use packaging minimally; all of it is reusable, recyclable or compostable, and the manufacturer shares at least some of the burden of paying for its recovery. We call this Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). The Daily Camera is one of the first local companies to voluntarily embrace this concept.

The Camera has been working with Eco-Cycle to collect and recycle the paper discards they generate. They currently recycle 90-95% of all their paper waste (approximately 15 tons each month). But they wanted to extend their environmental responsibility beyond the warehouse door to help recover the plastic newspaper bags their customers receive. To do so, the Camera has become the first corporate sponsor of the Eco-

Cycle/City of Boulder CHaRM, financially supporting the recycling infrastructure set up to handle this material. Their support eases the burden from consumers, the City of Boulder, and Eco-Cycle to pay for programs like this. Kudos to the Daily Camera for pioneering EPR in our area!

Boulder Community Hospital: Diversion Removes Health Hazards from Waste Stream
To demonstrate that a Zero Waste hospital is possible, Boulder Community Hospital (BCH) is working with Eco-Cycle, the EPA, and a consulting firm specializing in environmental management systems, or EMS –a means for planning, tracking and improving progress toward environmental goals. BCH would like to integrate EMS practices and Zero Waste principles into their daily operations.

As a starting point, BCH has taken an aggressive approach toward recycling their computers, monitors and other electronics. Eco-Cycle and the City of Boulder recently honored BCH for recycling more electronic equipment at the Eco-Cycle/City of Boulder Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials (CHaRM) than any other business in 2002. In one year, BCH recycled 4.5 tons of obsolete electronic equipment with the CHaRM, helping keep more than 400 pounds of lead, as well as neurotoxins such as mercury and carcinogens such as cadmium and arsenic out of the landfill. Eco-Cycle applauds the leadership of Boulder Community Hospital and hopes that other local businesses and institutions will follow their example.