Check out our Zero Waste Holiday Guide for 10 ways to green your holiday, a green guide to gifts including online resources, holiday item recycling collections, drop-off centers and more. You can also watch short videos explaining what holiday items can or can't be recycled and why. View the guide»
Eco-Cycle Times Fall 09 is here!
Read our Room-by-Room Guide to Zero Waste Living, how 42% of all U.S. greenhouse gases come from consumption, why trash companies are supporting Zero Waste, which local businesses are going for zero and much more! Read it»
Recycling is key to reducing our climate impact A new EPA report finds our system of producing, consuming and wasting goods and food accounts for 42% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, more than any other system!
Read more about the potential of Zero Waste strategies to reduce greenhouse gases and Eco-Cycle's work to show how much consumption and waste influence our climate.
Compost your fall leaves & pumpkins
By turning your leaves and pumpkins into compost, rich nutrients are placed back into the soil for future growing seasons. Composting organic materials also prevents global warming by avoiding potent methane emissions from landfills and sequestering carbon in our soils. You can compost leaves and pumpkins in your curbside composting bin or find a drop-off site near you.
Lafayette/Louisville drop-off center closed
The Glen Huey Recycling Center permanently closed on November 1 after many years of service to the Lafayette and Louisville communities. Residents now have expanded curbside recycling programs that accept all of the materials collected at the drop-off center and more. These better recycling opportunities, combined with budget cuts, have brought an end to the drop-off center. Residents who need a drop-off center may visit the Boulder County Recycling Center.
Stay in the know with Eco-Cycle on Facebook and Twitter Catch daily updates on all things eco: articles, media, services, action and more.
Let's spread the Zero Waste word!
New Facility Fee Helps Keep CHaRM AliveEco-Cycle now charges a $3 facility fee for every vehicle coming to the CHaRM to recycle materials. The fee will help us keep this important service going and is in addition to the recycling fees that apply to specific materials. Learn more, including three ways to save (Hint: Bike it in!)»
Support Eco-Cycle and the environment with Zero Waste B-earthday Parties for Kids! Eco-Cycle's Party with the Planet Birthday Parties combine fun activities with green values. They also support a good cause: The proceeds go to Eco-Cycle’s School Recycling and Environmental Education Programs. (A portion of the cost is tax deductible.) Now, take $50 off the regular price if you book by Jan. 1!Learn more»
Shop our eStore for Zero Waste products If you want to get to Zero, you have to shop right. Our eStore will help you do just that! We've researched and chosen the everyday items you need for your home or business to reduce waste, conserve energy and water, and save a few bucks at the same time. Even better, a portion of your sale will benefit Eco-Cycle. Get started»
Building a Zero Waste Community
We've changed our mission to reflect a new era of resource conservation in our community. We are now "Working to Build a Zero Waste Community." Eco-Cycle is partnering with individuals, schools, businesses, governments and event organizers to make ours a model Zero Waste community for the world.
Our Zero Waste community partners & how you can get involved
Look for these clings around Boulder and Broomfield Counties at participating businesses, schools, municipalities and in the homes of our volunteers to know who is helping us create a Zero Waste model for the rest of the world. Click on each cling to find out who is involved and how you can get involved.
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.
There are four central concepts to the Zero Waste system:
Changing the Rules to support resource recovery;
Producer Responsibility to hold industry liable for creating less toxic and more efficient products;
Purchasing for Zero Waste to use our buying power as our voice for Zero Waste; and
Resource Recovery Infrastructure to build the processing and recovery systems to move us toward Zero Waste. Learn more about all these aspects and the Zero Waste System.
Click on the icons above to learn more about how you can get involved with Zero Waste in our community.
Take Action
Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families. Chemicals are a part of our lives. But when they threaten our health and safety, we have a right to know. Every day we are unknowingly exposed to toxic chemicals where we live, where we work, and where our children play. If this truly is a time of change, this is something that needs changing - now. Join the thousands of people signing on to make a change.
While we work toward longer-term, challenging solutions like shutting down coal-fired power plants and taking cars off the road, the easiest, first step that can produce significant climate results RIGHT NOW is to STOP landfill-produced methane. Simply by getting COOL — Compostable Organics Out of Landfills — by 2012, we can prevent potent methane emissions AND build healthier soils. Taking the COOL step replenishes carbon stocks and supports sustainable agriculture, yielding healthier foods for our population. The technology exists, the need is certain and the time to act is NOW. Get involved>>
The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way
you look at all the stuff in your life forever. Watch The Story of Stuff and then share it with a friend.