Foodservice Packaging Institute Releases Study on Compostable Packaging and Food Scrap Capture

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is pleased to release the 2021 Recycling Totals for the State of Colorado. In 2021, the municipal solid waste diversion rate rose slightly from 15.3% to 16%, while the total diversion rate fell from 35.8% to 31.2%.  Details on the specific category changes, as well as diversion trends, and compost data, can be found at the link below.

Learn more about the contamination issue Colorado is facing with organics recycling. Recycle Colorado members are cited throughout the article discussing the issue.

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Stefanie Valentic, speaker at the 2022 Summit & Symposium conference, listened in on some of the discussions around Producer Responsibility at this years conference and shares her thoughts in this insightful article.

Stefanie Valentic, speaker at the 2022 Summit & Symposium conference, catches up with Recycle Colorado and COCC members, Jamie Blanchard-Poling with Compost Queen, Winn Cowman of Cowgirl Compost, and Julie Mach with Elements Mountain Compost, to discuss how they each launched their organics recycling businesses in Colorado.

2022 Summit for Recycling Archive

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The City of Colorado Springs received a FRWD grant for laying the ground work to move in the direction of managing waste in the city.

"Over the past few years, Eco-Cycle has increasingly received more and more questions asking if the plastics collected in Boulder County are actually recycled, largely in response to national news stories on the challenges of plastics recycling. We appreciate these questions because plastics recycling is complicated and has legitimate challenges. We want to be fully transparent with you, our recyclers, and fellow community members, about what happens to your plastics, when plastics recycling can work, and why plastics recycling isn’t enough to solve our plastics problem."

From CDPHE Communications Department:

The 15th Annual Recycle Colorado Poster Contest kicked off in April this year and was a huge success! This years theme was "The Journey of Recycling" which asked students to help us "paint the picture" of how our recyclables can become new products. We received over 100 poster submissions from students all across the state. It was amazing to see such a diverse range of mediums used in each piece of artwork. Some students went above and beyond and used recyclable materials to make their artwork, which aligned perfectly with this year's theme.

Longmont, CO, May 2, 2022 - Recycle Colorado is excited to announce the selection of a new Executive Director, Dr. Elizabeth O’Connell Chapman.  

The Recycling and Composting Accountability Act, S3743, a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by Sen. Carper of Delaware and Sen. Boozman of Arkansas, calling for data collection, infrastructure quantification, study of compost best practices, compost use markets and compostable packaging feedstocks, passed the Senate Environment, Public Works and Transportation Committee just this morning.

Producer Responsibility policy will provide recycling to all Colorado residents, reduce unnecessary packaging, and build more resilient domestic supply chains to ease supply chain disruptions for Colorado businesses. 

Simple changes can save residents money and reduce negative environmental impacts

Ending food loss and waste requires purposeful action. With approximately 40% of all food in the U.S. wasted, Denver Department of Public Health & Environment (DDPHE) is encouraging Denver residents to #SaveTheFood during Food Waste Prevention Week (April 4-8, 2022). Simple steps can help residents save money, reduce hunger in our communities, and protect our environment.

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Foam Cycle Granted U.S. Patent for a Method and System of Recycling Polystyrene Waste

Foam Cycle, the first foam packaging recycling system designed to be placed at outdoor municipal recycling drop-off centers, was recently issued a Utility Patent. The patent outlines a “method and system of recycling polystyrene waste”. Foam packaging, also known as Styrofoam, is one of the most plentiful, yet least recycled plastics in existence today. With Foam Cycle's system, foam packaging can now be recycled! The first Foam Cycle system in Colorado was placed at SustainAbility in Arvada CO last year. Read More!

Deadline: March 4, 2022

Reaching Colorado’s ambitious waste diversion goal will take the active participation of every Front Range community, resident, and business. A key aspect of this vision, as laid out in the 2016 Colorado Integrated Solid Waste & Materials Management Plan, is for every Front Range community to ultimately provide access to universal curbside recycling and compost collections for all residents, using best practices of bundling with trash services and incentivizing through volume-based pricing, also known as Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT). Realizing this vision requires each community to take multiple steps to advance up the “Zero Waste Ladder”.

Deadline: March 1, 2022

The purpose of this Request for Applications (RFA) is to fund projects, sustainable beyond the grant period that will enhance the financial viability of recycling, composting, reuse, repurposing, and waste reduction in Colorado and will create new jobs in the state. Preventing waste before it is created is the most effective reduction method, followed by reuse, and recycling. 

The results from the 2021 board election are in! We are happy to welcome 6 wonderful candidates onto our board for the 2022 year. Our current board members will be joined by Alicia Archibald, Tim Broderick (who will be serving one year in place of a departing member), Melissa Kirr, Neil Noble, Jennifer Richardson, and Jonathan Wachtel.

Deadline: December 6, 2021

The purpose of the Environmental Education Local Grants Program in Region 8 is to support locally-focused environmental education projects that increase public awareness and knowledge about environmental issues and provide the skills that participants in its funded projects need to make informed decisions and take responsible actions toward the environment.