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| RECYCLING BULLETIN | |
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Bulletin Archive: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 |
| Recycling Bulletin #24 April 8, 2004 In this Bulletin:
1. CU Recycling Report Going from Good to Great with More Recycling Since 1990, CU has developed a practical, cost-effective recycling program. About thirty percent of all campus waste is recycled, saving CU over $175,000 annually. There is still ample room for improvement however. Currently, 12 percent of waste in the residence halls is recycled and 40 percent is recovered in academic and administrative buildings. Recent research indicates CU could potentially double its recycling rate by composting its food waste and creating more recycling opportunities. Many of these improvements can be done less expensively than land filling. CU Recycling and the newly formed Recycling Financial Advisory Board are assessing preferred ways to improve the recycling program including increasing the number of locations, expanding the types of materials accepted, and improving outreach strategies to increase participation. How do you want CU Recycling to go from good to great? Send your ideas to cure@colorado.edu.
Food Waste Composting: Because A Rind is a Terrible Thing to Waste CU is in the final stages of planning a state of the art composting facility which is expected to start up this summer. The composting system will convert an estimated 400 annual tons of food waste generated by housing and other campus food service operations into valuable soil amendment. Funding from University of Colorado Student Union, US Environmental Protection Agency and Housing's energy performance contract totaling nearly $400,000 will put the system in place. Housing expects annual savings of $10,000 in fertilizer costs and about $3,000 in trash bills. CU students will have great opportunities to roll up their sleeves and conduct research with this important environmental improvement. 2. Local Recycling Info State Recycling Summit to Include Opportunities for Colorado Campuses The annual Colorado Summit for Recycling has been expanded this year to include special sessions and discounts for campus recyclers. This is the premier recycling event in Colorado and is hosted by the Colorado Association for Recycling. The Recycling Summit will be held in Breckenridge, June 7-8. The campus workshop will be held Monday, June 7th 8am-noon. Over the past year, a network of Colorado colleges and universities was formed. To date, a Web site has been created where contacts for campus recycling programs are listed. There's also an extensive set of recycling-related resources from around the country and an e-mail listserver so subscribers can communicate rapidly with each other. If you are involved with a campus recycling program in the State or would like to be, please visit the site and join the listserver. 3. Industry News Recycling State of the Union At the recent meeting of the National Recycling Coalition's (NRC) Recycling Organizations Council, members shared goings-on at each of their states. Some highlights:
Source: NRC Newswire, February 2004 4. Frightening Fact E-Waste The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that as many as 250 million personal computers will be thrown out between 2000 and 2005. Mobile phones will be tossed at a rate of 130 million per year by 2005, generating some 65,000 tons of waste, the agency says. Learn about the Computer Takeback Campaign — Get companies to recycle old, toxic computers! 5. Glimmer of Hope The Australian recycling industry recovered 73.5 percent of their continent's newspapers published in 2003. Local recovery efforts resulted in 528,393 metric tons of newspapers being recycled. Resource Recycling magazine reports the recovery rate is likely a world record. 6. Get Involved/Upcoming Events Earth Day is April 22, so there are lots of great environmental events this month:
Campus Environmental Roundtable
Boulder Earth Day 5K
Run/Walk
Campus Environmental Awards
Boulder County: A Zero Waste Model for the World by 2010
Microbreweries
for the Environment
Artful
Recreations Recycled Art Show and Auction Fundraiser
Artful Recreations Street Faire Subscribe to the CU Recycling Bulletin Receive monthly updates on local recycling developments, new programs, and upcoming events. Learn more about resource conservation through waste reduction, reuse, and recycling. Here's How: Send e-mail message to listproc@lists.colorado.edu. The body text of your message should read: subscribe recycling-infolist <your-full-name>. About University of Colorado at Boulder Recycling The University of Colorado's recycling program is a non-profit, campus-based organization whose mission is to instill awareness of the benefits of waste reduction and recycling. CU Recycling is widely regarded as one of the nation's leading campus programs. Awards have been given by such groups as the EPA, National Recycling Coalition, and the Office of Federal Environmental Executive, who in 2000, announced CU Recycling the model campus program in the United States. The university community is encouraged to get involved in CU Recycling's many activities. For more information, call 303-492-8307 or visit http://www.colorado.edu/cure. Please recycle this information: talk about it, pass it on, or post it!
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