First, you pack everything you own.  Then you realize you own way more than you thought.  You sell stuff, give stuff away, throw stuff away, pack more.  You think you’re done, but inevitably you end up finding more as you’re walking out the door.  At least that’s how it seems to go for me.

You get to your new place.  There is almost always something wrong.  This time, we had no water.  Then we had no propane.  It took almost two weeks to get our internet hooked up.  No mailbox keys.  No garage keys.  A seemingly never-ending flurry of phone calls setting up utilities and getting everything taken care of.

Amidst all that, I made a call to the trash and recycling company to arrange for trash pick up.  The customer service rep asked if we were interested in having yard waste pickup.  It would be composted.  Since our new house has a big yard, which has been very poorly maintained over the last year, I decided to go for it.  After all, I can just pick up the phone and cancel it later.

The next day, our big blue yard waste bin arrived.  I went out to the curb to fetch it and was met with a wonderful surprise.  It is not just yard waste.  That big blue bin is for full composting – food scraps, yard waste, food soiled paper, the works!  Since then, I have been surprised to find that many local businesses and restaurants have recycling and compost containers next to their trash receptacles.

When I found out that my hometown of Boulder, CO had started doing curbside composting, I assumed that it was one of very few places with a residential composting program.  I am excited that it appears to be more widespread than I initially thought.  Beginning this year, residents of Seattle are required to sign up for curbside composting (although there is currently no way of ensuring that everyone uses the service).

I have to say, it is astonishing how much our garbage load is reduced by having a compost bin.  We aren’t garbage-intensive people by any means.  I try to keep purchases of packaged goods, especially foods, to a minimum, and we are very good about recycling everything we can.  It is estimated that 27% of municipal waste is organic matter but, at least in our house, it seems like a lot more.  And I really like that it is now being composted instead of piling up in a landfill.

I have to say, I don’t know why more communities don’t offer curbside composting services.  We pay them to take our food waste.  It is then composted and sold back to us at over $3 per bag.  To me, it seems like a win-win.

I will probably eventually begin vermicomposting myself, both because I will have the garden and because having semi-pet worms will be fun.  But even then, I think we’ll probably keep the composting.  They will handle the meat and dairy that the worms don’t, as well as any yard waste that is too big for my little compost system.

Do your communities offer a curbside composting service?  If so, do you take advantage of it?  If so, how do you like it?  If not, why did you not sign up?

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing in regards to our serious problem of trash and recycling here in Pueblo. I am tired of hearing from everyone that “Pueblo people will not change” and simply using that as an excuse to keep us from changing.  It seems as though the people have tried to make change and we are getting stopped.  When I heard about the We Recycle program, I was very excited to hear that something was actually changing rather than just being talked about.  What could be better than ten dollars a month for curbside, singlestream recycling by an actual reputable, earth conscious organization?  The We Recycle program would be an amazing addition to the Pueblo community yet I have heard that the City Council and Health Department is trying to stop it.  WHY??  Am I misinformed, is this simply a rumor?  It seems to be politics that are getting in our way of recycling, not the people.  Yet it is the people that are getting blamed.   What can we do to help?  What is the reasoning for hindering programs such as We Recycle, or PDQs attempt last year to open their own recycling program?

Give the people of Pueblo some credit.  We WILL change but we must have the chance.  Several people here in Pueblo want to help make this a cleaner, more progressive town.   Recycling does not need to be made mandatory nor do we need “kick backs” or money to be encouraged.  We need convenience and education.  Many people are desperately trying to recycle and becoming very discouraged with having to stack up recyclables in their garage for months until they can transport them to springs or find individual places around town.

Why can’t small things be implemented immediately?  Bins and educational posters could be placed at the Riverwalk and downtown area, coffee shops, bars, reservoir, kayak park, etc.  They could be started in phases even; schools first so that they could be more easily regulated, (people couldn’t just throw their trash in the dumpsters because they would be located inside or locked after business hours).  These things can all be started with minimal money so I am struggling to see a reason why this hasn’t already happened, especially for things that are “easy” to recycle such as paper products, metals and glass.  Is it because of the labor needed to pick up the products?  I know a lot of people that would be willing to help and volunteer if labor is the set back.

It is nearly the season of chili cook offs, Festival Fridays, B street bash, Blues, boats and bbq; these would be excellent venues to show that Pueblo’s City/County Council and health department actually cares and wants to clean up Pueblo!  Try to imagine how much waste is produced at these events….shouldn’t the city be conscious of trying to offset some of that waste by providing places for people to recycle.  These events would also be an excellent, cheap way to educate the public about trash and how we have to live with it forever, because nothing ever really gets “thrown away”.

Has recycling programs in other towns been researched?  I agree that we will never be like Boulder or Fort Collins. (and actually we have much more to offer then either of those towns!)  However, we could gain valuable information from their programs and then decide what would or wouldn’t work for us.  Have Pueblo council members met with council members from these towns to discuss our dilemmas and ideas?  Seems like it would be a good place to start.

I am in no way trying to say that City/County Council or the Health Department has not been working very hard to come up with a solution and I have a lot of respect for what you do for the Pueblo Community.  I simply want to help and want to understand our obstacles and reasons that recycling is not going forward.

Sincerely,

One Frustrated Recycler

On Thursday (March 26th), at 7:00 PM, the self-titled Pueblo Recycling Coalition, will host a meeting with guest speaker, Susan Finzel-Aldred from the Pueblo City-County Health Department.

We are sending our very own investigative reporters – Clifton Casida and Tiffany Barr to scope out the scene and see if we can learn about all of the wonderful things going on, as well as if we can answer any of the questions we have posed in the previous blog posts.

Stay tuned!!

This site, wikiHow, http://www.wikihow.com/Reuse-Styrofoam, gave some excellent suggestions, including: don’t by the [BLANK] stuff in the first place.  Good point.  The box currently on my kitchen counter is from a restaurant, they should think about using paper instead (I know I know – the added cost – GET OVER IT!].

And here’s an idea…of course I am not 100% sure how safe it is….so Recycler Beware: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2070987/how_to_recycle_plastic_at_home/.

And there looks like there may be some potential here, but I am betting that shipping/transportation/fuel costs may in some ways outweigh the benefits. http://www.epspackaging.org/info.html

Okay Avid Consumers, do you have any leads?  Any ideas on this one?  We would love to hear them?

Is it possible to recycle Styrofoam?  If so where?  What are the constraints?  What are the potential incentives?  These seem to be the questions we always ask…

“Why?” you may ask. That is a good question. Namely, because I work full-time, maybe even a little more than full-time. And I haven’t really delved into these questions, to do the research, as I am trying to make money (with that precious resource of time). To pay for food. Which I will rant about later.

It is hard to be environmentally-responsible. And it costs money. Even if I could recycle everything that is piling up in our house, it would cost money to dispose of that (well, just like trash service). We have to pay for our products and services on the way in and on the way out (in the form of waste). This is economics. Whether we pay for a service, or we use our gas and time to dispose of our own waste/recycling, we have a cost associated with this.

So if I can get over the idea of how much time and money I have to shovel out (was that angry?), which I will because that is what is the right thing to do, then all I have to do is figure out how to most efficiently and economically dispose of and recycle my waste.

Onto the answers to the questions asked over the last several blog posts. Thank you for your hope and patience.

1.  Can I recycle aluminum foil, tin cans, etc.?
2.  Where does it go?
3.  What is my incentive to recycle this stuff?
4.  If there is not an incentive, will there be one any time soon?

Now this one may actually prove to bring in a little $$ for the slush-fund.  But, for all the effort, is it worth it?  We are going to find out.

Since I have “put it out there” for various papers and plastics, let’s dive into the next category of recyclable goods – Glass.

1.  Where can I recycle glass in Southern Colorado?
2.  Where does it go?
3.  What is my incentive to recycle glass?
4.  If there is not an incentive, will there be any time soon?

Glass, as with most paper, is a material that is harder to recycle for someone like myself because I say….“Well, if it does end up in a landfill, at least it will either decompose, or not have a drastic negative impact on the environment.”

Now, that is sad, sad reasoning for someone like myself.  BUT, if perhaps we look at the financial side of this, i.e. how can I make MONEY??  It may hold a nearer and dearer place in my (and yes, in most of society’s) heart.

As I say out loud to the sky, “OH God what am I getting myself into?”

We better find a solution or you may find me…..let’s find the d@*% # solution.

So, onto our next area of research, plastics.  The types SEEM to be:

1.  Super-thin plastic wrap (i.e. Saran Wrap)
2.  Relatively-thin plastic wrap (i.e. what frozen TV dinners come wrapped in)
3.  Thin plastics (i.e. the lids of Starbucks coffee cups)
4.  Numbers 1 and 2 plastics (i.e. water bottles)
5.  Higher numbers of plastics (i.e.  Tubs of yogurt/ice cream/BubbleYum bubble gum buckets)
6.  Even higher numbers of plastics – the really hard stuff (i.e. Polycarbonate bottles, and three-gallon paint buckets)

Let us move towards defining all of these different plastics and seeking some solution, locally and nationally, to can keep them out of our oceans and out of landfills.

My sickening inspiration for this plastic journey?

Toxic Series

There is:

1. Glossy Magazine-Like Paper
2. Paper that things like BILLS are printed on (and once in awhile checks)
3. Paper with plastic in it – like envelopes (that in theory you mail back with money in them)
4. Newspaper

Questions that I will attempt to answer in the next couple of days.

1. Can all of this paper be in the same batch to be recycled?
2. If so or if not, what are the specifications?
3. Depending on those specifications, where can I recycle these where I am at (Pueblo, Colorado).
4. Where are other systems that are in place that are more effective than the system to which I have access?

We will revisit this soon, and we will look at other goods that should be (could be) recycled.

Today is as good as any day because my very dear friend Jess is helping me along my way of becoming technologically savvy (HA). And there are little voices in my head now screaming every time that I buy something and throw something away. (Please note that these voices have existed for some time, but for some reason they have gotten incredibly loud over the past couple of weeks. Call it fate, hope, more alcohol consumption, or the universal consciousness, I am not sure which quite yet.)

Jess, Kimberly, Tiffany and myself are young professional women roaming what we call planet Earth, trying to make money in our chosen career paths, while being socially and environmentally responsible.

And somewhere very deep in my soul, I feel like our words and our experience will somehow play a part in helping us all deal with this incredibly fruitful, but downright difficult adventure. This quest, this path, this walk of being a young professional and being responsible (all while being healthy, saving money, making money, taking care of business, taking care of loved ones, taking care of ones we do not love so much and feel some obligation to take care of, and making our own organic alcoholic beverages – sorry guys, had to throw that one in there), can be rough.

We would like to share in the hopes of making it less so.

And thus, let the journey begin.