Paper and Plastic and Cans...Oh My

Our  own Boulder County Eco-Cycle is suffering from an industry-wide slump. Demand from China is down, and paper prices have dropped by half in the last 5 years. Currently, it costs facilities money to recycle glass, and while the amount of ultra-thin plastics keeps increasing there is very little money to be made recycling it. And due to the ever-expanding use of technology and online news consumption, there has been a significant drop in highly-profitable newsprint available.

All of these factors threaten the recycling facilities, which see a never-ending supply of incoming material to process. Eco-cycle, a non-profit with 67 employees that also maintain outreach and education programs, has had to dip into it's reserves to cover profit shortfalls since 2011. Unlike other facilities that have stopped recycling costly materials, Eco-cycle has expanded the list of items it receives through CHaRM, the Center for Hard to Recycle Materials. The organization cites a priority to divert waste from going to the landfills over just making money.

Eco-cycle will be obtaining a few new pieces of equipment this coming up year that should help their processes, including a second fiber bailer for cardboard, which is in good supply and highly-profitable to recycle. In addition, instead of paying rebates to haulers dropping off single-stream residential recyclables, they will be charged a nominal fee.

Eco-cycle states that there is no immediate threat to the organization during this low point in the market. Even so, it's important to remember to support the things you appreciate lest they go away - so put your money where your mouth is. If you'd like to make a donation to the organization, you can do so HERE.

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I would love to help you with your real estate journey. 

Please contact me at 303-917-7143 or robbin@stauferteam.com

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Unusual Recyclables

I hate waste. I try to compost, recycle and reuse everything I can, but I often have items I just have to trash. Don't judge - I recently threw away the last shirt I had from high school. No, it wasn't neon and yes, I got my money's worth.

Bet you never knew you could recycle these items:

• Brita Water Filters - Preserve Products takes the plastic casing and turns them into toothbrushes.
• Carpeting (nylon) - Carpet Recovery can put you in touch with a carpet-reclamation facility near you.
• Crayons - Crayon Recycle Program makes whole multi-colored and solid crayons from stubs.
• Denim - Blue Jeans Go Green turns denim into environmentally safe insulation.
• Greeting Cards - St. Jude's Ranch for Children creates new cards from the old ones and sells them to fund programs to support abused, neglected and homesless children.
• Inhalers - Complete the Cycle breaks down inhalers to reuse the aluminum and plastic.
• Juice Pouches - TerraCycle will turn these otherwise non-recyclabes into purses and tote bags.
• Keys - Key for Hope collects old keys to see as scrap and uses the money to stock food pantries.
• Pantyhose - No Nonsense recycles pantyhose and tights into things like toys, carpet and playground equipment.
• Sneakers - Reuse-a-Shoe takes old running shoes and turns them into court surfacing.
• VHS Cassettes - GreenDisk dismantles and shreds the tapes and turns them into other items.

Items that you are done might be useful for someone else. It's pretty easy to find organizations who will take your items and donate them to other folks who may need them, like hearing aids, wheelchairs, eyeglasses, etc. The Freecycle Network is another way to reuse items. Volunteers in each zip code connect people giving and needing stuff in their area.

Spend just a minute to find out where your item can find new life. It's really just a matter of changing your habits to think about extending the usefulness of products instead of adding to the landfills.

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I would love to help you with your real estate journey. 

Please contact me at 303-917-7143 or robbin@stauferteam.com

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