Denver, Thornton lead way for recycling in metro area

Justin Coons, Rocky Mountain News

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Denver and Thornton are the only cities in the metro area that provide municipal recycling pickup for paper products, plastic, glass and cans.

In 2006, Thornton diverted about 5 percent of the garbage headed for landfills, recycling 875 tons of newspaper and 920 tons of glass, plastic and aluminum.

Other metro-area cities do not provide recycling services directly. Residents must request service from an independent contractor.

In some cities, such as Westminster, trash contractors are required to offer curbside recycling pickup.

Other cities provide recycling services for various products. Northglenn, for example, runs a pickup service for automotive batteries, motor oil, paint cans and antifreeze.

Boulder provides curbside pickup for carpets and is testing a pilot program that picks up garbage for compost.

The University of Colorado runs its own self-contained recycling program on campus. Officials say they recycle 40 percent of the garbage in academic buildings and 20 percent in the dormitories, accounting for about 1,400 tons per year.

It saves the university about $235,000 a year in landfill fees.

Colorado State University also has its own recycling center, which recycles about 1,000 tons per year.

American throwaways

100 million trees' worth of bulk mail arrives in U.S. mailboxes each year

100 million steel cans are thrown away each day

2.5 million plastic bottles are used every hour

41,000 trees could be saved each year if every morning newspaper in the country were recycled

7 trees are used by every American each year in paper, wood and other products

5 2-liter plastic bottles can be recycled to make fiberfill for one ski jacket

4 the number of times you could circle the Earth with the plastic bottles thrown away each yearSource: Denvergov.Org

Get your own purple recycling cart

• Call: City services at 3-1-1

• E-mail: DenverRecycles@ci.denver.co.us

• Online: Go to denvergov.org/recycle/default.asp

• Toss these in your cart:

Corrugated cardboard, mixed office paper, junk mail, magazines and catalogs, paperboard (cereal boxes, tissue boxes, etc), phone books, brown paper bags, newspapers (including inserts and ads), plastic bottles, glass bottles and jars, aluminum and steel cans, aluminum foil and pie tins, empty aerosol cans.

• These are no-nos:

Lids, caps, tops, full aerosol cans, paint cans, scrap metal, wire, metal utensils, hangers, dishes, light bulbs, mirrors, window glass, drinking glasses, plastic bags, plastic tubs, plastic plates, plastic egg cartons, six-pack rings, paper milk cartons, juice cartons, fluorescent paper, tissue paper, napkins, paper towels, paper plates, paper cups, waxed paper, carbon paper, photos, flower pots, toys, styrofoam, foam, food, garbage.