news & events
press releases
ReThink Recycling
June 14, 2005
(DENVER) Mayor John Hickenlooper challenged Denver residents to ReThink Recycling on Tuesday, as he launched the City's new, expanded residential recycling program. The goal of the program is to increase recyclables collected, thus decreasing landfill use and helping preserve the environment.
The new residential recycling program will consist of three key components.
New Materials. Applicable to All Residents.
Residents can now recycle seven new materials. The new recyclable materials are:
Corrugated cardboard
Junk mail
Paperboard (such as cereal and cracker boxes)
Office paper
Magazines and catalogs
Phone books
Brown paper bags
And, of course, residents can continue recycling:
Aluminum cans, aluminum foil and pie tins
Newspapers with inserts
Plastic bottles
Glass bottles and jars
Steel cans and empty aerosol cans
No More Sorting. Applicable to All Residents.
Residents no longer have to separate their paper and mixed containers (cans and bottles) into separate recycling containers. All recyclables can be mixed together.
Phased Replacement of Recycling Containers. Limited Service Availability.
The new program will slowly replace the current recycling bins with a new, larger, wheeled recycling cart. This replacement will take up to five years to reach all residents, so residents are asked to continue using their current recycling bins during the transition and to take advantage of the new, expanded program.
"These changes will make it easier for residents to recycle, while enabling the City to divert more waste from our landfill," said Mayor Hickenlooper. "Denver residents have been asking for more recycling options, and we are thrilled that we finally have the ability to offer expanded services. Now it's up to our residents to make this program a success. I challenge everyone to do their part."
The City is now able to collect this new mix of materials as a result of a partnership with Recycle America Alliance/Waste Management, and their redesigned and retrofitted Franklin Street Recycling Materials Recovery Facility. The facility has been undergoing the retrofitting and installation of equipment during the past four months, so that the mixed materials can be properly and efficiently separated. This new mix of materials is often referred to as "single stream". An estimated 30 tons of recycling material is expected to be processed per hour with the new equipment. The initial goal of the facility is to process about 4,000 tons of recycling material a month, with hope to grow to 10,000 tons a month by 2008.
"Single stream recycling offers residents of Denver an easy and convenient way to recycle more. Cities all across the country who have adopted this system have seen recycling increase by as much as 50 percent," said Brad Heinrich, director of the Western Region for Recycle America Alliance/Waste Management. "We're proud of our redesigned facility and pleased to be able to provide this valuable service to Denver and to Colorado."
"This new expanded service is just another example of how the Public Works Department is doing more with less," said Bill Vidal, Manager of Denver Public Works. "I'm proud of the staff at Solid Waste Management/Denver Recycles. They designed a simpler, easier to use service that will allow us to recycle and divert more than ever before."
Denver Recycles is proud to partner with Recycle America Alliance, Rehrig Pacific, Department of Environmental Health, the Aluminum Can Council, Dex Media, The Denver Post, The Rocky Mountain News and Coca Cola in its efforts to educate Denver residents about the new services.
Denver Recycles is a program of Denver Public Works/Solid Waste Management. It provides recycling collection services to residents of the City and County of Denver who live in single family homes and multi-family building of seven or fewer units.
Media Contacts
Charlotte Pitt
(720) 865-6816
charlotte.pitt@ci.denver.co.us
Lindy Eichenbaum Lent
(720) 865-9016
lindy.e.lent@ci.denver.co.us
