||REDUCE - The FIRST step in waste reduction.

JUNK MAIL: Junk Mail is extremely wasteful - it wastes our time, energy, resources and money. Colorado residents receive 342,000,000 pounds of junk mail a year and in response, Colorado spends over $4.3 million a year beyond recycling costs to dispose of junk mail.Stop your junk mail waste today. For $20, Tonic Mailstopper will get you off mailing lists and other pesky databases while planting 5 trees on your behalf. You can buy Tonic Mailstopper gift cards for a junk-free mailbox from the Conservation Center with 50% of the proceeds going to support our waste reduction programs. Call 970-668-5703 to get started or stop by Eartha's Green Shop at 518 E. Main Street in Frisco.

Buy in Bulk: There are several components to buying in bulk that help reduce waste. First, most products bought in bulk come unpackaged, which leaves you with the option to put it into reusable bags, jars or boxes. Second, bulk products use less packaging that individually wrapped items. For example, a 40 oz bag of potato chips has less packaging than ten 4 oz bags of potato chips.  Start with some staples, like coffee, rice, cereal, flour or even dish soap. 

Buy Recycled and Recyclable Products:  Buying recyclable products and then tossing them in the recycling bin instead of the trash reduces the amount of waste we send to our landfill.  Buying recycled-content products supports recycling markets and helps move us closer to a closed-loop, zero waste society. Visit our buying recycled page to learn more.

Avoid Individually Packaged and Single Use Products:  As mentioned above with Buying in Bulk, individually wrapped products create a lot of unnecessary waste.  Single-use products, like 12 oz. plastic water bottles, plastic utensils, tiny ketchup packages and disposable cups are examples of wasteful products that have readily available alternatives.

Ask for Aluminum Foil:  When you need to take food from a restaurant to go, we suggest asking for a sheet of aluminum foil instead of a box.  All kitchens have it, and its easily recyclable.  Much better all around than Styrofoam or plastic containers!

Give Up that Disposable Cup:  If you stop for a cup of coffee each morning or fill up a paper cup with soda each lunch hour, try investing in a really good stainless steal mug.  The investment into a mug that really feels good, is the right size, and fits in your cup holder is worth it!  With a mug that you like, you'll find it easier to give up that disposable cup.

Forget the little Plastic Water Bottle:  Even recyclable #1 PET plastic bottles that soda and water come in are not a good option for reuse. Those disposable bottles are not intended for multiple use and can leach the chemicals found in plastic into your drink. To avoid plastic altogether we suggest investing in a stainless steel water bottle available from High Country Conservation Center at our Farmers Market booths or at the Ecoasis in Breckenridge.

Plastic Bags really Blow:  At High Country Conservation Center we know plastic bags blow - we have all seen them flapping from tree branches all over the County. Click here to learn more about plastic bag problems. We recommend investing in large, flat-bottomed canvas bags for your groceries - they are available EVERYWHERE these days! Safeway, City Market, WalMart, Vitamin Cottage, Alpine Natural Foods, and Amazing Grace all have an assortment of reusable bags - some of them are only 99 cents!  (For a much wider selection of shapes, sizes, colors and textures we suggest checking out one of our favorite websites: www.reusablebags.com)

A Disclaimer:  We have found that the grocery store clerks and baggers are often flustered and confused when we hold out our reusable bags.  Being the control freak that she is, Carly finds bagging herself is the best way to go, while Holly (with her new baby in her arms) prefers to cheer and coach the baggers (each and every time) on the durability and capacity of the big canvas bags.  Habits are hard to break, for everyone. 

||REUSE

Reuse is a concept whose time has come again.  Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without! There are many ways to REUSE materials.  From supporting your local thrift stores, rummage and yard sales, and consignment stores (through purchases and donations) to finding creative ways to reuse odd items, reuse is an important part of a sustainable community.

Community Nonprofit Thrift Store:  High Country Conservation Center and Summit Thrift and Treasure have partnered to help improve the reuse infrastructure of our community.  You can help my purchasing items from the thrift store and following their donation guidelines.  Please see their website for details: www.summitfirc.org/sttdropoff.php.

Summit Freecycle:  High Country Conservation Center manages the Summit Freecycle list serve, an online message board to post unwanted, working goods or to seek specific items from the network.  Join today by going to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/summitfreecycle/.

Other Consignment and Reuse Options are listed on our Hard to Recycle Page.

||CREATIVE REUSE

The ideas are limitless, but here are some of our staff's favorite ways to reuse household items:

Recycled Arts & Crafts: Click on the following links in green to see unique ways to reuse burned out Christmas bulbs, aluminum cans, and to-go boxes.

Recycled Plastic Lunch Bag: Check out this fun craft project using plastic shopping bags and a little creativity to create reusable, durable, washable, and groovy plastic lunch bags. Click here for instructions (seen on SCTV 10's Green Show!)

Reuse Jars: Jars are great for leftovers (no need to worry about the chemicals in plastic leaching into your food that way!), vases (hey, shabby chic is in!), luminaries (tear up some colored paper or tissue paper and glue it to the outside of the jar and place a candle inside),organizing a tool shed, and much more.  Holly's favorite way to reuse a glass jar is to use it as a mug for her hot tea by wrapping it in the top of an old wool sock for insulation. She's got Carly using them for her summer smoothies now. Try it!

Reuse Plastic Tubs. Use them for mixing paint, holding leftovers, repackaging bulk foods for school lunches, or substitute them for baggies.  Carly uses plastic cherry tomato and strawberry packages each spring to start plants for her herb garden.  Plastic to go containers also make great water tray for small plants.

Check back often for seasonal additions to this REUSE section!

||RECYCLE

Recycling is the LAST STEP in waste reduction.  It's a great solution and important part of a sustainable community, but it can't save the planet alone!

You can find information about local recycling options on our Recycling in Summit page.  But if you need some motivation, here are some facts:

Local Facts

Summit County residents recycled 7225 tons of material in 2005 diverting 12% of the total waste stream!  By recycling locally, you made a difference globally:

National Facts

• Recycling creates 6 times as many jobs as landfilling."

• Tossing away an aluminum can wastes as much energy as pouring out half of that can's volume in gasoline."

• Recycling a 3 foot high stack of newspaper saves a 32 foot tree."

• Water pollution is reduced by 76% and air pollution by 85% when steel is recycled."

• If only 10% of Americans bought products with less plastic packaging just 10% of the time, approximately 144 million pounds of plastic could be eliminated from our landfills."

• 50% of landfills, on average, are filled with paper, most of which could have been recycled."

• The average American creates 3.5 pounds of trash each day!"

Resources for More Waste Reduction Information
GrassRoots Recycling Network
National Recycling Coalition
Colorado Association for Recycling
Freecycle Network's national website