“It all started with an old school bus. When there was no curbside pickup, and people in the Boulder area started realizing that things that could be recycled weren’t, an Eco-Cycle bus would come by to pick up recyclables like newspapers at neighborhood corners.”
Since the 70s, Eco-Cycle, Inc. – a grantee of your Community Foundation – has been responding to our community’s call for recycling and, more recently, achieving Zero Waste.
“It all started with an old school bus,” says Nicole Theerasatiankul, Development Director. “When there was no curbside pickup, and people in the Boulder area started realizing that things that could be recycled weren’t, an Eco-Cycle bus would come by to pick up recyclables like newspapers at neighborhood corners.”
Fast forward more than four decades, the Boulder County Recycling Center – operated by Eco-Cycle, recently completed major upgrades. The publicly-owned facility now accepts more types of plastics for recycling, “something the public has been requesting for a long time,” in addition to hard-to-recycle materials – from bikes and yoga mats to light bulbs and batteries.
Continues Nicole, “Today, we’re also focused on Zero Waste, which means promoting recycling and composting, and building the infrastructure to address both downstream and upstream activities. Besides taking care of things that would go to landfills, we’re also doing education, research and policy work on how to reduce waste – like single-use plastics – in the first place, how to consume sustainably, and how to get manufactures to be more responsible in their packaging.”
Indeed, according to the Eco-Cycle website, “The connection between the waste we generate and our global climate crisis is direct and undeniable. Going for Zero Waste is one of the fastest ways communities can reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and help fight climate change.”
To that end, Eco-Cycle works with schools, restaurants and other businesses, and seeks to inspire individuals’ personal choices. “At the community level, we’ve also helped Longmont and Lafayette develop similar programs,” adds Nicole.
Most recently, Eco-Cycle launched a carbon farming program in partnership with CU Boulder, the City of Boulder and Boulder County.
“Carbon farming is one of the most hopeful ideas I’ve heard in addressing climate change,” explains Nicole. “By using old-school farming methods – like relying on rotating crops and composting, rather than chemicals – it builds up healthy soil that pulls excess carbon out of the atmosphere where it causes global warming, and stores it in the soil where it contributes to plant growth and healthy harvests.
“The same idea can be extrapolated to our parks, even our backyards – our lawns can become farms themselves.”
