A Brighter Future for Recycling in Chaffee County

 This article is part of our Environmental Series for the Mountain Mail. Published Oct 30, 2024 By Rose Nadelhoffer

“The ‘G’ in ‘GARNA’ doesn’t stand for garbage, but I’m gonna make you think it does.”

This was GARNA Executive Director Jason Marsden’s rallying cry at a library talk about recycling in October. As a key player in developing the 2022 Chaffee County Waste Diversion Plan, GARNA is involved with revamping local waste solutions, which, unfortunately, are currently not cutting it.

Marsden pointed to state and national Municipal Standard Waste (MSW) diversion rates, or the percentage of household and commercial recyclable waste that actually makes it to recycling centers, as indicators of the depressing state of recycling in Colorado. Colorado’s MSW diversion rate is just under 16 percent, less than half the national average (32 percent). Yet Chaffee County is even further behind; our county’s 2019 waste audit found that the local MSW diversion rate measured a measly 7 percent.

How could this be, in an area as environmentally conscious as Chaffee County?

Marsden explained that our local struggles with waste diversion are manifold, starting with a challenge shared by consumers worldwide: producers off loading, onto consumers, the cost of disposing absurd amounts of packaging waste.

More locally, Marsden discussed how the closure of the Angel of Shavano recycling center leaves households footing the bill for biweekly recycling services. The unfortunate reality of waste diversion is that Chaffee County doesn’t generate enough recycling for a dedicated recycling utility to generate enough volume to offset costs. Consequently, many folks have opted out of recycling altogether. Moreover, the waste that does get to the recycling center is sometimes contaminated by unrecyclable plastics or food waste and is hard to process.

Despite these challenges, Marsden is optimistic for the future. Soon, “you will see recycling in Colorado start to make sense.” He attributes that to a $4 million EPA grant recently awarded to Chaffee County for a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) at the landfill, as well as the state’s gradual ongoing adoption of its Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) program.

A new MRF would allow us to sort, collect, process and transport recyclable waste more efficiently, he said, and increase our MSW diversion rate while also extending our landfill’s carrying capacity. Additionally, the EPR will require producers of paper and plastic packaging to fund a statewide recycling program for those materials, decreasing the production of unrecyclable materials altogether and alleviating consumers of the cost of waste diversion. Together, Marsden argues that the MRF and EPR program will realign the economics of municipal waste by making it easy and economically logical for both producers and consumers to lighten their footprint.

As we wait for the complete rollout of these programs over the next few years, GARNA is here to update you on that process and guide you in dealing with your divertable waste.
Keep an eye on GARNA’s online program calendar for specialized waste collection events. Otherwise, do your part to properly sort your household recycling. Proper sorting is critical – as is preventing contamination. (You don’t have to scrub them spotless, but please rinse.)

Here is a recycling refresher from Marsden:
Do:
– Recycle only plastics Nos. 1, 2 and 5 in Chaffee County.
– Empty and rinse all containers before recycling.
– Drop your recycling off at GARNA (if you’re a member) whenever your bin is full, for $5 a visit, if you don’t subscribe to a biweekly recycling service. You can also purchase a 5 visit punch card.
– Only compost containers that are “Certified Commercially Compostable” and/or bear the BPI logo. Sign up for Elements Mountain Compost, 719-966-7645, and you’ll get a free counter composting bin from GARNA.
Don’t:
– Try to recycle bottle and jar lids and greasy pizza boxes.
– Do not dispose of specialized waste in your backyard recycling bin. Recycle these items at an appropriate site (Find out more at the GARNA Recycling Guide): plastic bags and plastic film, yard waste, office supplies, clothing and textiles, eyeglasses, unused and expired medication, electronics, batteries, lightbulbs, printers and ink cartridges, shredded paper, shipping and packing material, paints and stains, appliances, building materials, construction and landscaping materials, scrap metal, motor oil, car batteries and tires, household cleaners and hazardous materials.

– Rose Nadelhoffer is a Blue Elements AmeriCorps watershed steward stationed at GARNA