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The
ReNews
A Newsletter promoting Reduce,
Reuse, Recycle, Restore and Beyond
Summer 2004 Volume 28, Issue 2
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If we keep on doin' what we always done, we'll keep on gettin' what we always got. ~Barbara Lyons |
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Introducing Summit Recycling Project’s first e-newsletter! Perhaps it is a little over due, but it took time to learn how to post the e-newsletter to the website. Hope you enjoy our efforts! Please be sure to provide us with your email address so that we can notify you when each quarterly newsletter is released- send your address to us The postcards that were sent out via snail mail to members were a one time deal- from now on each newsletter recipient will receive a brief email that states that the newsletter has been posted and it may list the titles of the articles contained in that issue as well. |
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SRP Starts New HHW Program HHW means “Household Hazardous Waste” to those in the business. To you, a resident, it means common but hazardous materials found in your home or small business. A good indicator of a hazardous product is a label that has special handling suggestions, like “use in a ventilated area,” or “do not mix with other products.” These phrases indicate that there is some volatility associated with the chemicals in that product. Other indicators are warning labels or words that say: Hazardous, Toxic, Flammable, or Poisonous. If a product has the number for Poison Control or a skull and crossbones on the label, that too can be an indication that the product is HHW. These HHW products should not be poured down the drain or thrown in the trash as they can cause serious problems for wastewater treatment plants, the landfill, their employees and our environment. To provide a convenient and cost-effective program for Summit County residents, SRP has launched a new, on-going HHW Collection Program that is available Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays by appointment only. You must call 668-5703 to make an appointment. There are fees for this program, though most of the costs are covered by contributions from the Town of Frisco, the Town of Breckenridge, the Frisco Sanitation District, the Breckenridge Sanitation District, the Snake River Wastewater Treatment Plant, the Silverthorne-Dillon Joint Sewer Authority, and the Summit Fire Authority. Please call for fee schedule or see the HHW Program webpage. |
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Trout Bum Tournament Summit Recycling Project’s Project Coordinator, Dylan Hoffman makes up one half of the Team Cetarius Mendici (Latin for "Begging Fishmongers"), the other half is Josh Flenniken also of Summit County. The team was selected as one of 6 teams nationwide to participate in the 2004 Fly Rod and Reel Magazine’s "Trout Bum Tournament." The object of the tournament is to raise money for a coldwater conservation organization during a fishing trip. Team Cetarius Mendici has chosen Trout Unlimited as it’s organization, and will be hiking the 55 mile Gore Range Trail in it’s entirety over 12 days (July 20th to August 1st) while linking high alpine lakes fishing for cutthroat trout. There are several ways you can help these "begging fishmongers" raise money for Trout Unlimited: Walk-a-Thon format (pledge per mile hiked); Fish-a-Thon format (pledge per fish caught); Lump Sum (pledge a set amount of money); and Supplies (Donate food, hiking or camping gear). Make a donation or get more information by contacting Dylan at 513-6799, 389-6767, or email Dylan or contact Josh at 262-2079, 496-3525, or email Josh More information can also be found at Fly Rod and Reel Magazine or Trout Unlimited |
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Do you know someone that received a GREEN SCENE AWARD? The Green Scene Awards were a success once again. And this year they grew with the help of the Blue River Group of Sierra Club. We worked with them to increase the number of award nominations we would receive and to bring about new ideas on how to run the event. Gary Lindstrom the event on April 22nd (Earth Day) at the Senior Center. MaryAnn Gaug and Currie Craven came from Friends of the Eagle’s Nest Wilderness to present a slideshow on Wilderness in honor of the 40th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act. The event carried on the Wilderness Act theme by adding a Wild Wilderness Wonder award category. Currie Craven took home this award for his volunteer efforts to improve and protect Wilderness Areas in Summit County. Another new award this year was the Earth Goddess/Hero. It was awarded to Sue Rodgers of Summit Cove in honor of her innovative efforts to reduce waste and teach the same to her two young boys. The Julia Butterfly Individual Achievement Award went to Jim Lamb for living a green lifestyle, remodeling his home using green practices and for his work to bring Biodiesel to Breckenridge. The Lisa Simpson Youth Award was presented to Erin Stebbins, who has diligently cleaned and protected the pond near Big O in Frisco for the past 3 years, as well as working on other environmental projects. The Organic Fertilizer Award went to a whole team of students and teachers at the high school who oversee the recycling program- the two groups involved are: Learning Lab students and students in the LEAP program. Breckenridge Medical Center’s Chris Miller brought home the Essential Earthy Employee Award (and was nominated by over a dozen co-workers!) because of the recycling program that she has instituted and enforced within her office- she even drives down to Denver & Boulder with hard-to-recycle items. The Greener Summit Business Award went to the very deserving Conscious Coffees (formerly Breckenridge Coffee Roasters). Owners Mark and Mel work very hard to ensure that their coffee comes from shade grown, organic and fair trade markets and they often research ways to increase new ways to increase the sustainability of their company, both environmentally and socially. Scott Hummer was awarded with the Green Machine Public Works Award for his dedication to water conservation issues- he has been very generous with his time in his field and goes beyond what is required. |
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Compost Display Garden is finally open! The Compost Display Garden has finally been planted and is a massive display of color showing off the endless possibilities that come from making and using compost in the garden. Jennifer Kirkpatrick has taken on the volunteer position of Garden Caretaker and has already exceeded our expectations by planning, weeding, and researching the layout of the plants. If you see her there hard at work be sure to give her a big thanks! A plethora of perennials were planted on June 19th so come by and take a look and more are being added daily. The Garden sits outside of the fence at the Frisco Drop-Off Center, which is right next to the Frisco Fire Station on 8th Avenue. |
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Clean Out Your Attic & Get FREE Stuff!
Just finish a remodel project and now you have a bunch of still useful (but not to you) items to get rid of? Have a garage overflowing with "junk"? Can't find a home for your old couch, but hate to send it off to live for all eternity in the landfill? Well post it on the Summit Freecycle Network.
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Town Clean-Up Days and Zero Waste Picnics After the Town of Frisco's well received (and quite successful) zero waste... or darn near annual town picnic in 2003, the other 3 towns (Dillon, Silverthorne and Breckenridge) decided to follow suit this year. The SRP staff was spread thin between the 4 town picnics, but it turned out to not be a problem thanks to the efforts of the staff at each town and just the great people at each of the picnics! The numbers have been tallied (yes, we spent an afternoon digging through all of the bags of recyclables, organics and trash searching for contaminants and weighing the results) and (drum roll, please)...
All told we, as a county, kept 265 gallons and 239 pounds of "waste" out of our landfills in one day just by separating organics and recyclables and by offering reusable items rather than disposables. We are impressed! We just can't wait to see what happens next year- will the other town's narrow the gap with the more zero-waste-experienced Town of Frisco? Stay tuned to find out! * The Town of Dillon served as our control group this year. They were provided with bins for recycling and organics collection, but we did not have an SRP staffer on-hand to educate people as we did at the other towns. We wanted to see what would happen if there wasn't anyone there to say "that hamburger bun can go in with the organics and so can your plate and biodegradable fork, but the meat must go in the trash." And we were impressed that there was very little contamination in the organics and recycling that we collected. Unfortunately a diligent town employee got to the regular trash cans before we did, so we couldn't determine how much trash was contaminated with recyclable/compostable material. But good work Dillon for keeping so much out of the landfill without having to be told how!!! |
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Environmental Education Award for Statewide Recognition CALL FOR NOMINATIONS 2004 COLORADO ALLIANCE for ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION AWARDS
The Awards honor leadership in developing effective, cooperative, cross-sector environmental education programs. Nominees should be individuals and/or organizations in Colorado that have demonstrated success in developing and implementing environmental education programs and partnerships. Award categories include: K-12 Education, Higher Education, Citizen/Community, Media, Business, Nonprofit, Agricultural, Religious, Government and Best New Program. One individual will be acknowledged for significant achievement and contributions to the field of environmental education as the recipient of the Enos Mills Lifetime Achievement Award. You can download the nomination forms from CAEE's website or call CAEE at 303-273-9527 and they will send you a copy. Completed nominations must be postmarked by July 30, 2004. Award recipients will be notified in early September and invited to be CAEE's guest at the annual awards banquet and auction to be held on November 5, 2004. Questions? Call 303-273-9527 |
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Recycle Services Offers Recycling Pickups to Park County Park County may no longer have a recycling drop-off center but thanks to Rocco Capozza there is now a commercial recycling service for Fairplay and Alma. Recycle Services collects corrugated cardboard, mixed paper, glass, aluminum, steel (a.k.a. tin cans) and plastics #1 and #2. Other recyclables (i.e. appliances, batteries) may be scheduled for pickup on an individual basis. Pickups are every other Saturday with a minimum charge of $10 per pickup. Contact Rocco at Recycle Services at 970-485-0460 or recycle@direcway.com |
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Green Product Showcase- The Balance Sheet The Balance Sheet in Frisco is a popular stop for many locals seeking various office supplies, but many don’t know just how GREEN they are. The Balance Sheet not only provides great customer service they also provide a huge amount of shredded paper to Tri-R Recycling in Denver (the same company that SRP utilizes). The Balance Sheet offers document destruction- and that service keeps over 3000 tons of paper out of our local landfill each week! That equates to a full truck load of paper a week being recycled by the Balance Sheet. We are impressed!! |
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Feedlots = Happy Cows = Healthy Planet & People??? Labels such as "natural," "hormone-free," "organic," and "earth friendly" may make us feel as though we are making good choices about the foods that we buy. But do these labels really carry any weight? Some labels are monitored stringently, such as "USDA Organic" which means that the product complies with very exact federal standards. "Protected Harvest," Salmon-Safe," and "Predator-Friendly" are not regulated by the government but are still regulated rather strongly by trustworthy independent verification boards that make sure that the food is produced/harvested following certain standards. Other labels have much less stringent qualifications for their use. The label of Free-Range chicken, for example, only carries the requirement that the chickens have access to the outdoors for some undetermined period of time each day. "Natural" and "Hormone-Free" have federal standards but have little to no means of verification. And the new label of "Earth Friendly, Farm Friendly" in reality means nothing. In fact the Hudson Institute’s Center for Global Food Issues, the group that created this label, supports genetically modified food and lambastes those foods that are grown organically. They promote feedlots, because they say that cows are happy there and that holding cows in an area with cement floors protects the environment. The center’s director, Dennis Avery, has actually written a book titled Saving the Planet with Pesticides and Plastic, which in our office is almost laughable- almost! If you are looking for a better source of information on eco-labels and their meanings, we recommend Dan Imhoff’s Farming with the Wild. ~ This article was adapted from a Grist Magazine article from March 17, 2004 by Matthew Miller. |
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Ask Eartha Steward |
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Dear Eartha, I have dug my patio furniture out from the basement and found that the cushions are stained with mildew and the plastic chairs are stained with dirt! Is there anything I can use to clean up my furniture (besides using just plain old elbow grease)? I just really want to get down to enjoying my patio!
~ Left Standing |
Dear Left Standing, |
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Interesting Website to Peruse Junkmarket Online is a great site started by two women who are true dumpster divers. They find, transform and sell all types of junk at 3 annual sales in Minnesota. Their website has several fun ideas of projects that you can easily do at home using- you guessed it- JUNK! We encourage you to check it out at http://junkmarketonline.com/index.shtml |
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Upcoming Events July 12-16 Electronic Waste Collection/Recycling at the Frisco Drop off Center- fees are as follows: TVs $15 (add $1 for each inch over 27", NO CONSOLE TV’s), Computer Monitors $10, CPU’s (towers) $5, Large printers/faxes and copiers $3, |
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SRP Drop-off Centers & Materials Accepted Monday-Saturday 8-5, Sundays 10-2, closed on Holidays: Breckenridge – located on County Road 450, one block past 7-11 on the left. Monday-Wednesday 9-5 only: Dillon- Town Hall Parking Lot each Waste Management operates a drop-off center in Silverthorne, on Brian Ave (between 3rd & 4th Ave) The following materials are accepted at all of Summit County’s recycling centers Aluminum Cans and Foil Corrugated Cardboard Glass Bottles and Jars Paper (Newspaper, Magazines, Office Pak, White Ledger, Phone Books) Plastics (#1 and #2 bottles only– no tubs) Tin (Steel) Cans (metal lids/caps OK) The following are only accepted at SRP’s drop-off centers: Batteries (auto and household) **Paperboard (cereal boxes, 12-pack boxes, etc) Used Motor Oil and Oil Filters Scrap metal is only accepted at the Frisco drop-off center ** Appliances are now accepted at the Summit County Landfill only(Freon must be removed from refrigerators before drop-off, call SRP for options. Call the landfill for hours 468-9263. $10 drop-off fee per appliance) Household Hazardous Waste accepted for a fee and by appointment ONLY. Call SRP 668-5703 for details. |
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Recycling Collection Summit County Snowy Peaks 389-1747 The Summit Recycler 390-0958 Timberline Disposal 800-787-5137 Waste Management, Inc. 468-2475
Neighboring Areas
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Wish List New gloves and work boots Producer responsibility A National Bottle Bill A newer laptop computer Zero Waste |
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Change one habit.
Make the commitment to only use canvas shopping bags and BAG THE PLASTIC
BAG!
Individual Action does support a collective change! |
Summit Recycling Project |
If you like what we’re doing let us know. Donate to Summit Recycling Project to show your support for your local environmental non-profit. |
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