There is an awkward moment of indecision when standing before an array of recycle, trash and compost bins. Residents of Denver, Boulder and a few other Colorado cities know the dilemma. That confusion is apparent in city parks, Broncos games, standing in line to see “Stinky” (the corpse flower at the Denver Botanic Gardens), at outdoor concerts and in Whole Foods’ cafés.
Someday, there may be a phone app with a round of applause if you guessed right, or a soft “no, no, no,” if you got it wrong. How about a snappy jingle or rap song for recycling clarity? If you are lucky at some events, there are volunteer sorters — those folks wearing plastic gloves and aprons — who stand by the bins to help.
For the Denver residents who have the colorful trio of carts, help can be found at the Denver Recycles Directory, . Once there, type in the name of the item in question and Denver Recycles tells you where it goes. Or check at the list inside the bin lid.
When in the throes of confusion, take heart. Statewide, Colorado residents recycle or compost about 11 percent of their waste. That’s good, considering most towns and counties in our state don’t have a recycling or composting program. In 2014, Denver composted or recycled 16 percent of the city’s waste — an impressive 59,200 tons. Boulder recycled 45,000 tons.
Colorado’s 20 Whole Foods stores recycled or composted 70 percent of their waste last year. “People should pat themselves on the back, because recycling makes a difference for the planet,” said Heather Larrabee, executive marketing coordinator at Whole Foods in Colorado.
There are some surprising rural recycling spots, according to Marjorie Griek, executive director of the Colorado Association for Recycling. Julesburg in northeastern Colorado and Rocky Ford, Swink and La Junta in southeast Colorado are among them. There’s an entrepreneurial program in Creede in west central Colorado that is spreading to Del Norte and Crestone.
Recycling is a labor of love and conscience. Griek and others say recycling and composting aren’t profitable, not even in Denver or Boulder, which have major programs. “The sale of the materials offsets the costs of the program,” said Charlotte Pitt, Denver Recycles’ manager. However, recycling costs less than buying land for a landfill.
The current plunge in the market for used plastic and paper doesn’t help the prices. “The market is worse now because China and India, who were major buyers of plastic and paper, have backed off,” says Griek.
No matter how bad the market is for used plastics, paper and aluminum, Denver Recycles never sends recycling or composting to the landfill, said Pitt. Outside of Denver, recycling trucks rarely re-route to the landfill, counter to a persistent urban myth that nothing is really recycled. When a recycling truck heads to a waste dump, it is because paint buckets, styrofoam, shingles, plastic toys, yard chemicals, giant wads of plastic, garden hoses, CDs and CD cases, lawn chairs, carpet and other junk filled a recycling bin, says Griek.
A few hints for recycling in Denver: Plastic food and beverage containers with a number inside a triangle are usually good for the recycle cart. Glass is good to go. However, lids, bottle tops and milk carton tops without the magic triangle belong in the trash.
Plastic shopping bags, dry cleaning bags, garbage bags, shrink wrap and their relatives are trash. Those plastics gum up the sorting equipment for hours. Some grocery stores take plastic shopping and dry cleaning bags.
Styrofoam? Always a no-no in the bins.
Most paper and cardboard are good, unless there’s a plastic, wax or metal coating. Therefore, frozen food boxes and popcorn bags are doomed to the trash bin.
True, the list of the unrecyclable items is as long as the list of what can be tossed into recycling and composting bins. The good news is that everything helps.
“People want to get it right. It is so sweet that people take that time and effort,” Griek says.
As you ponder what goes into which bin, be consoled. The tons of plastic water bottles, take-out bowls and produce containers that are recycled may start a new life as decking, polar fleece, tote bags, carpeting, furniture, drywall or plastic bags.
Maybe someday all products will be recyclable. But not today, or next year. It isn’t easy riding the wave of the future, but a few minutes of perplexity beats making a new mountain of trash.
Deborah Frazier is a former reporter with the Rocky Mountain News who was later communications manager at Colorado State Parks.
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