2008 Colorado Summit for Recycling
Recycling Industry Awards
In recognition of outstanding conservation efforts in Colorado.
2008 Recycling Award Winners
Bruce Philbrick, City of Loveland
Lifetime Achievement Award
Colorado State University - Facilities Management Integrated Solid Waste Program (ISW)
Outstanding Government Recycling/Diversion Program
Mesa County Solid Waste Management Outreach and Education Program
Outstanding Outreach - Educational Institution or Municipality, Co-recipient
Boulder County Resource Conservation Division
Outstanding Outreach - Educational Institution or Municipality, Co-recipient
Dahl Recycling
Outstanding Business Recycling/Diversion Program
Judy Solano, Colorado State Representative
Outstanding Elected Official
Susie Gordon, City of Fort Collins
Volunteer of the Year
Bruce Philbrick, City of Loveland
Lifetime Achievement Award
Up until 2001, the City of Loveland offered residential curbside collection of recyclable materials and yard debris, and a drop-off facility for yard debris. Recognizing that adding additional materials at the curb was dependent upon what the Larimer County Recycling Center (and their contractor) could accept and was limited, Solid Waste Division staff determined that the best way to grow the program was to seek new markets and accept items at the drop-off center . In many cases, because of handling needs, these materials could only be collected through a drop-off center, and Loveland residents soon proved that when provided with a convenient, cost-effective and user-friendly drop-off option, they would take full advantage of this option.
Since 1993, Loveland residents have annually diverted more than 50% of all discards from landfill disposal. Loveland’s success is quite simple: provide residents with a financial incentive to reduce waste and create convenient opportunities for residents to recycle and compost as many materials that can reasonably be processed and marketed. At the same time, Loveland residents enjoy about the lowest rates for solid waste services in Northern Colorado.
Colorado State University - Facilities Management Integrated Solid Waste Program (ISW)
Outstanding Government Recycling/Diversion Program
Before 1990, Colorado State University landfilled nearly all of its trash. A small student club, “Campus Recycle,” collected recyclable material, but diverted less than 50 cubic yards of material each year. At less than two full trash trucks, it was not an appreciable amount compared to the over 26,000 cubic yards of waste produced annually by the University at that time.
In 1990, Facilities Management began a pilot recycling project with a $26,000 grant from the Colorado Office of Energy Conservation. Recycle Colorado State (RCS) was established with this grant. Initial success was slow as no changes were made to the processes of trash collection, from the custodial or trash side. Custodians were expected to collect recyclable materials from separate recycling containers, in addition to their current duties, and no provisions were made to reduce trash service in response to less material in the dumpsters.
In an effort to address these concerns, the waste collection and disposal processes were changed in FY95. The previous program of 8-yard dumpster collection with over 234 dumpsters was reduced to approximately 100 dumpsters placed across Main Campus, South Campus, West Campus, Foothills Campus and outlying areas. A curbside collection system at most academic buildings on Main Campus has replaced dumpsters. Custodial staff puts bags of trash on the curb for timed pick-up. These efforts have lead to a combined reduction of trash and efficiency of its removal.
Streamlining the trash process allowed for growing efficiency of the campus recycling operations. Recycling is collected using a 24-yard side load packer truck. Collection has changed from multi-stream to single-stream paper and container collection (cardboard collection is still separate). Since recycling was introduced, the trash volume sent to the landfill has been decreased by approximately 1,545 cubic yards over the past 5 years and during that time recycling has increased by approximately 5.3%. In FY07, the ISW program saw a cost avoidance of approximately $77,866 by diverting 12,807 cubic yards of material from the landfill.
At present, it’s difficult to find a building on-campus without a recycling bin – environmental responsibility and efficient operation are important considerations for ISW. Currently Colorado State University landfills about 44.9% of solid waste, with the existing recycling program diverting the other 55.1%. Those figures do not include the (literal) tons of items collected through the Leave-It Behind and Surplus Property programs that are recycled, donated to local charities, or sold for reuse to the local community.
Mesa County Solid Waste Management Outreach and Education Program
Outstanding Outreach - Educational Institution or Municipality, Co-recipient
Beyond its role as the primary site for solid waste disposal within Mesa County, the Solid Waste Management Campus serves as an outdoor, hands-on classroom for integrated solid waste management education activities. The campus serves a population of approximately 120,000 residents and is located on 1,500 acres of property owned by Mesa County. Facilities within the campus include: the landfill, Hazardous Waste Collection Facility, Organic Materials Composting Facility, and a recreational corridor through the riparian habitat of the Gunnison River.
Mesa County Solid Waste Management developed a Mesa County Valley School District 51 approved curriculum on modern Integrated Solid Waste Management activities. Specific and distinct “educational units” within the curriculum include: sanitary landfill design and operation, household hazardous waste collection and management, and commercial composting objectives and methods. The curriculum targets elementary grades 2, 5, and middle school grade 6.
Mesa County Solid Waste Management also sponsors daily radio informational messages called “Conserve Mesa County." The 30-second messages provide information on programs offered at the Solid Waste Campus, as well as, environmental conservation tips. The messages are aired on a variety of radio station formats including country, hard rock, adult contemporary, and community radio. Specific compost related messages are also used to educate the public on the benefits of utilizing compost produced at the composting facility.
The budget for the Mesa County Solid Waste Management Public Outreach and Education Program is approximately $119,000 annually. The budget is used to fund all outreach and education activities, including the printing of school curriculums and the cost of bus transportation for Solid Waste Campus Tours. The budget also reflects the cost for radio, television, and newsprint advertising and the printing of informational brochures for the various programs managed at the Solid Waste Campus.
Boulder County Resource Conservation Division
Outstanding Outreach - Educational Institution or Municipality, Co-recipient
Stacy is a powerhouse and you know that if you’ve worked with her. In 2005, she began working with the Boulder County Fair to promote a recycling system. When she began this effort the recycling program at the fair consisted of several barrels marked “aluminum’ - That was it!
The initial program consisted of providing staffing for an information booth. One prime activity was utilization of a ‘roulette’ wheel to encourage interaction with fair goers. Anyone who has staffed an information booth, knows that it can be a long and lonely day watching people avert their eyes so they can move on to something fun. Our ‘wheel of knowledge’ brought kids and adults to the table to try their skill at answering really stupid recycling and composting questions just to win a piece of candy. But once there, they received the full court press to provide information about the waste diversion programs in their communities.
In the second year, 2006, Stacy launched the zero waste fair program. She coordinated with the fair board and let them know the county’s intentions to eliminate waste at the fair. She worked with EcoProducts to research appropriate items, managed the procurement of compostable cups for the beer gardens (arranged for temperature controlled storage so they wouldn’t melt), assisted the carneys with procurement of compostable cups and cutlery, provided information and guidance to the food vendors, hired Eco-Cycle and Western Disposal for recyclables, compostables, paper and waste collections and established protocols for determining weights and percentages recovered. Stacy worked closely with Gale Elstun, the division’s graphic artist to develop zero waste posters and signage for the entire 15 acre fair, plus the fair campgrounds.
In 2007, Stacy made her most significant effort to manage the fair. Very early in the year, she began organizing the fair board, then the staff both at Parks and Open Space and the Resource Conservation Division. New signage was developed with a more clear message. Stacy developed the three-can system for the fair (not a unique model, but one lacking in our previous efforts at the fair). Press releases were developed in advance of the fair and advertisements were placed in the local newspapers and the fair promotional materials. The companies that provided cooked food and beverages were given instructions and fact sheets to assist them in purchasing food and serving ware that met the program’s requirements. And again, hundreds of hours of senior tax write-off and volunteer time were coordinated so that all knew when, where and what their assignments were.
Dahl Recycling
Outstanding Business Recycling/Diversion Program
Dahl Recycling of Colorado Springs serves a unique niche recycling market. The company contracts with bars and restaurants throughout the city to pick up bar glass at no charge, then sells the glass to Coors Brewing Company’s glass plant to be made into new beer bottles.
Since Jeff Dahl founded the company in May 2005, Dahl Recycling has contracted with more than 60 Colorado Springs bars and restaurants and has diverted approximately 3,000 tons of wine, beer and liquor bottles from the landfill. His service has grown so popular that Mr. Dahl has bar and restaurant owners calling him to participate.
“No other recycling company comes close to the level of service to restaurants and bars that Jeff does,” said Richard Skorman, owner of three popular restaurants that participate in the Dahl bar-glass program. “He makes recycling easy and hassle-free for me. Without Dahl Recycling, I’d have to toss my glass in with the rest of the trash.”
Judy Solano, Colorado State Representative
Outstanding Elected Official
Susie Gordon, City of Fort Collins
Volunteer of the Year
