Fall 2003
The Case for Recycling
In a community like Grand Junction, where 20% participate in curbside recycling, convincing non-recyclers to jump on the recycling bandwagon remains a challenge. If you have wondered how you might encourage a friend or neighbor to recycle, perhaps you will find something of interest in this article and newsletter!
What difference does it make if we recycle or not?
When we don’t recycle we deplete our natural resource base. Take, for instance, the aluminum can. In 2001, an estimated 50.7 billion aluminum cans were not recycled. That’s just over half of the 100 billion cans sold that year, and 50% more than the number of cans wasted in 1990. If people had recycled those 50.7 billion cans, they would have saved the energy equivalent of 16 million barrels of crude oil and avoided the emission of more than three million tons of greenhouse gases (Resource Recycling, January 2003).
When we don’t recycle we contribute unnecessary waste to landfills—landfills that incur ongoing costs for monitoring and maintenance. Trash collection costs must go up as populations increase and landfill space becomes an issue. Right now, Mesa County Landfill tipping fees are at a comfortably low $18 per ton. In comparison, in Northern California, where open space was once also plentiful, landfill rates are as high as $160 per ton. It is well known that some eastern states have been forced to pay for transport of trash out of state because there simply is no more room.
Issues like these lurk in the future for all of us as population density increases.
Is recycling economically worth it?
- A household in Grand Junction can actually save money by turning in that large trash can for a smaller one and signing up for recycling.
- As landfill rates increase, the cost will be past on to users (i.e. to you, the trash customer).
- As we deplete resources, the products produced from those resources become more expensive. Again, the consumer pays.
- Recycling actually creates more jobs. In 10 Northeastern states over 106,000 recycling industry jobs were created in 1999.
Is recycling time consuming?
Some people hesitate to recycle because of the perceived time and effort involved in cleaning and sorting the material for pick up. In fact, research has shown that it takes on an average only 1 1/2 minutes per day to properly recycle.
Some curbside programs allow residents to mix materials in an attempt to make it easier and encourage more recycling. So why do we ask our customers to separate? Resource Recycling reported in its November 2002 edition the results of a national survey of curbside recycling collection programs conducted by Governmental Advisory Associates. They found that programs (like the City of Grand Junction’s) in which materials are sorted by participating households prior to collection produce by far the most useable products and generate the least amount of trash. In these programs only 1.9% of materials picked up cannot be recycled, compared to 6.4% in programs requiring minimal separation. Programs which allow participants to mix all materials together for collection end up discarding between 16 and 27% of everything they collect!
In the long term, recycling can have positive environmental and economic impacts on Grand Junction and the nation. Lower landfill rates, more jobs, resource conservation and less pollution all serve to improve the quality of life in our communities. Collecting used bottles, cans, and newspapers and taking them to the curb is just a part of the whole picture.
Spring Clean Up is looking up!
It’s called GREENWASTE, and its all those branches, grass clippings, leaves, and twigs you end up with every time you rake, prune, cut, plant or play in the yard. Right now there are several choices for disposing of it: you can take it to the Mesa County Landfill’s Compost Facility, trash it, burn it (where and when local ordinances permit), backyard compost it yourself, place it on the curb for Fresh as a Daisy collection in the spring or, in the case of leaves, for Fall collection (Spring clean up does not compost, the Fall collection does).
The Northridge Subdivision was selected early in 2003 as the site for a pilot test area for separation of green waste materials from trash as a part of the City of Grand Junction’s 2003 Annual Spring Cleanup Program. Residents were contacted early into the year and agreed to separate the items they placed for pick up into these two categories (green waste & trash). The pick up process consisted of a double pass through the subdivision first to pick up trash, then green waste items. Materials collected were hauled to a transfer site where they were separately loaded into roll-off containers and taken to Mesa County Landfill. Once there, both were weighed in over the scales with trash going to landfill and green waste going to the composting facility. Some 200 cubic yards of materials were picked up and removed from Northridge Subdivision of which 66% was green waste. Asking residents to specifically separate green waste items, collecting, handling and delivering it to the composting facility by double passing the neighborhood, creates significant operational problems that will drive costs higher. However the economic benefit could be the 66% savings in landfill costs. It has been suggested that another test section be done in 2004 to gain additional information to aid in making decisions for future programs.
Shopping for your next car? Check out the Hybrid.
The Toyota Prius is a hybrid gasoline and electric, four door, five passenger car. We purchased one in April of 2002 and have utilized it almost daily. On a recent 1600 mile trip the Prius cruised for hours at 75 mph, up and down passes without slowing, and delivered a respectable 43 mpg. We drive the Prius daily in and around town on company errands and find it is very responsive in steering, comfortable, well appointed and reliably delivers 47 mpg. It is now over a year old with 15,000 miles driven and has never failed. If you want a socially responsible, reliable, fun vehicle to drive take the hybrid for a test drive. We love ours.
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If you have an old vehicle (boat, car, etc) you need to get rid of you might look into donating it to your favorite non-profit organization. The Senior Companion Program (phone Susan at 263-9092) helps homebound seniors in Grand Junction and is one of many wonderful local programs actively seeking such donations!
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- Aluminum cans collected through the City’s curbside program are used in the production of new cans. They are also made into venetian blinds, as well as such items as sardine cans, make-up containers and sliding shutters on computer disks (which utilize 100% recycled aluminum!)
- Every ton of paper kept out of the landfill saves 17 mature trees. (We collect approximately a ton a day on our residential recycling routes). In 1996, America recovered over 42 million tons, saving the equivalent of 719 million trees.
- The new phone books you receive from Qwestdex are made from the books you recycled last year, which amount to 40% of their content! QwestDex has recycled enough phone books to have stretched over 15,540 miles when laid out end to end! This would reach across the US more than 5 times.
- Adam’s Quick Print (one of our commercial recycling customers) carries as their standard stock copy paper with a 30% recycled (post consumer) paper content.
Holiday Schedules
We currently work on many major holidays. Please check your calendar for scheduling changes. Unless a different day is marked with a star we will work the holiday and will pick up on your regularly scheduled day. Still not sure? Please phone us before the holiday to confirm your pick up date. Thank you!
…..Look for your 2004 Calendar in the Winter edition of Waste Not, Grand Junction!
About our company
GJ CRI is a local, family owned and operated business contracted by the City of Grand Junction to provide residential recycling services within the City limits.
Curbside recycling was a new concept in western Colorado in 1989 when Mesa State College hosted a conference entitled “Think Globally, Act Locally”. In response to the interest of then City Council Member, Paul Nelson, and City Sanitation Supervisor, Darren Starr, a local citizen, Steven Foss, volunteered to begin a pilot curbside recycling program. The purpose was to assess the community’s interest in such a program and determine its costs. Steve appropriately named the endeavor Curbside Recycling Indefinitely.
Residents in Spring Valley and downtown eagerly joined in the study by agreeing to sort their recyclables for collection each month. Tope Elementary teachers, students, and parents began to spread the word and soon routes were established throughout the City.
Evolving from its Grassroots
The original pilot program was adopted by the City in 1992. GJ CRI provides employment for seven of your neighbors:
- Steve and Elaine Foss
- Don Tyre
- Michelle Herrick
- Harry Oxford
- Cyndi Albers
- Steve Massey
If you see us in your neighborhood, please stop and say hello.
GJ CRI’ s story is an example of how a community can come together to accomplish an important goal. Many of our original recycler’s were single, and many were elderly. Never doubt that one person can make a difference!
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Twenty years ago there was only one curbside recycling program in the United States. By 1997 there were over 9,000 programs in 49 states.
newsletter by e-mail
Many apologies to those who requested this newsletter by e-mail. We encountered so many problems with formatting and address changes that we have returned to regular mail!
Do you have an interesting article, question or insight relevant to the world of recycling? Let us share it with other recyclers in upcoming editions.