Dear Sam,
No, don't toss them. Those junked appliances may look like a rusted relic of the mid-seventies kitchen to you, but they look like useful scrap metal to us. (Yes, even the microwave and the dishwasher with glass and plastic parts.)
Scrap metal, including appliances like yours that DO NOT contain CFCs (Freon coolants), may be recycled at 111 S. Martin St., Longmont, and at 1901 63rd St., Boulder. Any items in good working order should be donated to a thrift store or charitable organization, because appliances in our scrap metal pile are going to be fed to a giant shredder large enough to shred a car into small pieces — a sort of Cuisinart for chunky metallic things.
The pieces are then run through a magnet to pull out the ferrous (iron-containing) metals. Non-ferrous metal, such as aluminum, is separated out by an eddy current (the wonders of science at work). The plastic insulation in the dishwasher or the glass door on the microwave are not recyclable, but you do not need to remove those parts; they will become the shredded "fluff" left over after the metals are separated.
Please do not give us any appliances with CFCs in them, such as refrigerators, freezers or air conditioners. In accordance with state law, CFCs must be removed by a licensed handler. Check our Web site at http://www.ecocycle.org for handlers in our area.
Keep in mind that the Longmont and Boulder recycling locations are not the places to dump electronics such as computers and televisions. These items are accepted for a fee at our Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials in Boulder. Call us at (303) 444-6634 for information.
Dear Alex,
You're right. If you've ever visited a landfill where Boulder County waste is dumped, you've seen incredible piles of construction and demolition wood being wasted and plowed underground. The sight is more nauseating than the smell.
There should be a place for this material, and there is. In fact, there are two: ReSource 2000 for good, reusable construction materials, and the city of Boulder/Boulder County Clean Wood Waste facility for non-reusable, clean, untreated and unpainted wood.
ReSource 2000, a program of the non-profit Center for ReSource Conservation (CRC), salvages used building materials in good condition and resells them at great prices. Lumber, flooring, doors, plumbing, fixtures, hardware, cabinets and other items in good shape are accepted then resold in the sales yard. The yard is a candy store for the handy-person, designer, renovator or even artist. ReSource 2000 is located just north of the Boulder County Recycling Center on 63rd Street, on the west side of the road between Arapahoe and Valmont roads. Learn more at http://bcn.boulder.co.us/environment/rs2k/index.html or call (303) 441-3278.
The city of Boulder/Boulder County Clean Wood Waste drop-off is located at Western Disposal's site at 5880 Butte Mill Road. It was created to help the construction industry and homeowner do-it-yourselfers reduce disposal costs and recover some of their recyclable material. The site accepts untreated and unpainted wood waste only, including dimensional lumber, pallets, OSB , plywood, particle board and other engineered wood projects (I-joists and microlams). The material is trucked to an organics facility where the wood is ground into mulch and/or compost.
The program is free to city of Boulder residents. Unincorporated Boulder County residents receive a discount that amounts to 40 percent less than the price to plow it under in the landfill. Construction companies working within Boulder city limits may use the program for half off the standard landfill tipping fee. Clean wood waste must be separated from other debris.
For more information on where to recycle construction and demolition material, check out the city of Boulder's "Construction Job Site Recycling Guidelines". You'll need Adobe Acrobat to view the brochure.
So many different drop-off sites. Where the heck are they exactly? You can get a map to all these locations at http://www.ecocycle.org or in the center pull-out section of the Eco-Cycle Times.
