Dear Eartha, I read about some new recycling grant projects in a recent article. What exactly will these recycling projects do for our community? Is it too late to apply for a grant for my own recycling idea? 

The Summit Daily News recently announced five recycling projects recommended for funding through Strong Future. And, on July 23, the recommendations were officially approved. That means our community will soon realize the benefits of these projects, which include recycling fire extinguishers, receiving surplus food that otherwise would have gone in the garbage, learning how to recycle old building materials, and more.

While the official grants deadline has passed, the High Country Conservation Center (HC3) is still seeking recycling projects that help locals and workforce neighborhoods access composting and recycling. Grants aren’t awarded to individuals, but if you have an idea, the HC3 staff can talk through project ideas and help you apply in partnership with a business, non-profit or even your homeowner’s association. Email grants@highcountryconservation.org with questions.

Let’s dig into the details of the approved projects.

Arapahoe Basin Ski Area

Did you know that the Basin encourages employees to recycle their food scraps, electronics and other items at work? That’s right, by offering bins and collection at work, the Basin makes recycling easy for employees who may not have access at home.

With their grant, Arapahoe Basin will take employee recycling to the next level by creating a formalized collection area to make recycling even easier and more visible for employees. They’ll offer hard-to-recycle collection days for ski area visitors during spring and summer events. And, they’ll provide food scrap and recycling bins for employee housing. The best part? They hope to have it all in place this fall, when seasonal employees arrive for winter.

CAFE Food Rescue

Summit County plays host to a huge number of weddings, conferences and peak-season visitors. Restaurateurs and event organizers plan for feeding all these guests, and when guest counts are lower than anticipated, they’re left with loads of fresh food destined for the trash. That’s when CAFE Food Rescue staff steps in.

Over the next 12 months, CAFE staff expects to collect more than 109,000 pounds of food (90,800 meals) and get that fresh food into the hands of locals. Not only does this work prevent carbon pollution (greenhouse gasses released from food thrown in the landfill), it also addresses 16 percent of the food insecurity in our community. It’s a win-win for waste prevention and local nutrition.

Powdr-Copper Mountain, LLC

Copper Mountain is embracing aluminum. That’s right, when reusable cups aren’t an option, Copper offers guests aluminum (rather than plastic) cups. What’s the big deal? Unlike plastic, aluminum is infinitely recyclable, meaning that it can be recycled over and over and over again into new aluminum cups, soda cans and more.

To help employees safely and efficiently sort their aluminum for recycling, Copper is building a new sorting platform. Their new sorting process sends aluminum to the Summit County Resource Allocation Park, where staff ensure that all those cups and cans live their next best life.

Summit Fire & EMS

At the moment, it’s cheaper to buy a new fire extinguisher than it is to service an existing extinguisher. The lack of local service techs has driven up servicing costs, and the pile of old, un-serviced fire extinguishers is adding up. Summit Fire & EMS is changing that with a new recycling program.

They’ll establish a part-time position to disassemble old fire extinguishers and organize the pieces for scrap metal recycling. And, to prevent waste in the future, they’re working to train a special needs community member to become a local fire extinguisher service technician.

Town of Frisco

As the Town of Frisco tears down the existing building at 602 Galena St. (to make way for workforce housing), they’re planning to separate and recycle as much of the old building as possible. Whether seeking out scrap metal or clean wood and concrete, the expert hired for the job will be sorting out recyclables and monitoring how much of the old building gets recycled.

The Town will also create a case study to help others in the community understand sustainable construction (and deconstruction) practices.

There’s a lot happening in the high county and if you need some inspiration for your own project, check out HighCountryConservation.org/grants.

Ask Eartha Steward is written by the staff at the High Country Conservation Center, a nonprofit dedicated to waste reduction and resource conservation. Submit questions to Eartha at info@highcountryconservation.org.