June 11th, 2009 by Jess

I hate moving.

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?

compost, Food, Recycling, Washington

March 30th, 2009 by Tiffany

I’m really tired of nothing every coming of a recycling program here in Pueblo although it has been talked about for years. So I wrote an email to several City Council members and the Health Department for some answers, let’s see if they have any good explanations.  Below is the email that I sent,  I will also post any responses.

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

City Council, Health Department, PDQ, Pueblo, recycle, Recycling, trash, We Recyle

March 23rd, 2009 by Tisha

In Pueblo, Colorado there are several facets of folks from all different corners of our community, from all different backgrounds of educated and directed thought, that have come together in the past four weeks to discuss and determine what to do with the recycling dilemma in our County and City.

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!!

meeting, meetings, Pueblo, recycle, Recycling

March 8th, 2009 by Tisha

I will spare the reader the deep philosophical questioning of myself and my actions that I have just went through as it has surely crossed your mind at some point in time.
I sit here at least over a week later, with no answers to all of these questions.

“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.

economics, money, recycle, Recycling, time

February 20th, 2009 by Tisha

I think the last area we have to cover as far as where/how to recycle stuff is the metal-goods.

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.

aluminum, metal, recycle, Recycling, tin

February 7th, 2009 by Tisha

Admittedly, I have already had problems and have started to fall off of the Sustainability Boat.  Or Wagon.  Whatever.  I am upset at myself, but I suppose it will take some time to become this uber-efficient princess (I can hear my dear friend Steve laughing), yes, Princess.

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.

glass, recycle, Recycling

January 20th, 2009 by Tisha

While I was attempting to gather information on my piles of sorted paper products, it came to my attention, as has in the past, this problem of definition of PLASTICS.  When I took my delectable Amy’s Frozen Dinner out of its cardboard package, I thought to myself, “Self, what in the world do you do with this plastic?”  What type of plastic is it?  Can I combine it with the other plastics that I will have to haul up to Colorado Springs (since there is currently NO plastic recycling in Pueblo, a town of over 150,000 people)?

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

plastic, recycle, Recycling