|| Summit County Recycling Guidelines

A printable version of the 2010 Sorting Guide is available by clicking here.

Click here for a special Holiday Sort Guide for info on how to sort wrapping paper, cards, and other holiday recyclables.

Haga clic aquí para información en español.

Click here to see a Guide to Recycling Codes that answers "What Do Recycling Symbols on Plastics Mean?" From recycling number 1 to 7, decipher the recycling codes and find out what plastics are recycled into.

The drop-off centers are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Locations:  Frisco Drop-off Center – County Commons, off Highway 9 just south of Frisco (NOTE: On Tuesday, October 27, Summit County Recycling staff moved the Frisco Recycling Drop-off Center to its new location – just across the street at the County Commons, next to the Colorado State Patrol building. The drop-off center was moved to make room for the new County Maintenance Facility which will be built over the next year. Read more here.); Breckenridge Drop-off Center – County Road 450, at the corner of 7-Eleven on the north side of town, ¼ mile on left; Dillon Mobile Drop-off Trailer – Dillon Town Hall Parking Lot, from U.S. Highway 6 turn on to Lake Dillon Drive, ¼ mile on left (cattycorner to the Dillon Post Office). For more directions, please contact the Conservation Center at 668-5703.

PLASTIC RECYCLING GUIDELINES

RESPONSIBLE RECYCLING - REDUCE CONSUMPTION OR RECYCLE MORE?

THE DIRTY DOZEN: SUMMIT COUNTY'S MOST UNWANTED MATERIALS!

RESPECT YOUR COMMUNITY RECYCLING SITE

2010 SUMMIT COUNTY RECYCLING GUIDE

DOWNLOAD SUMMIT COUNTY LANDFILL'S 2010 BROCHURE FOR CURRENT LANDFILL PRICES AND HOURS

|| Plastics Recycling Guidelines

As of June 1, 2009, Summit County Drop-Off Centers accept only #1 PETE bottles (neck and screw top bottles only) and #2 milk jugs and solid colored bottles in the plastics recycling bins.

Download an Informative Guide about the New Plastics Changes

Download The Big Picture of Recycling in a Mountain Community (PowerPoint PDF)

Download the Dirty Dozen - Summit County Drop-Off Center's Most Unwanted Materials

Acceptable #1 (PETE) plastic bottles include water, soda, salad dressing, and mouthwash bottles, for example.

Acceptable #2 (HDPE) plastic bottles include milk jugs, juice bottles, bleach, detergent and household cleaner bottles, and shampoo bottles, for example.

The drop-off centers no longer accept #2 tubs and #3 through #7 plastics, including containers, bags, and trays. No more tubs? Find out how to make your own yogurt and say goodbye to plastic tubs - click here!

Why can’t we recycle as many different types of plastics as we used to?

The plastics industry designed various types of plastics including hybrid plastics without regard for recyclability. Simply put, there aren’t reliable collection and processing systems for number 3 through 7 plastics.

Think Big Picture!
Download "The Big Picture of Recycling in a Mountain Community"

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|| Responsible Recycling

Reduce Consumption or Recycle More?

Food for thought... check out these excerpts from Low-Fat Recycling from The Journal of Municipal Solid Waste Professionals by Josephine Valencia (to read the entire article, please click here):

What are the real costs? “Without firm knowledge of the recycling activities in which we engage, we are absolved of consequences. Recycling feels good, and perhaps we don’t really want to know what happens to this stuff. By occasionally recycling, we alleviate our environmental conscience and abstain from the need to learn more about the process.”

“The best use of a material always depends on how you define your objective. Recycling has become so common in our society that we have lost track of what we are trying to achieve. We often aren’t asking what makes the most environmental sense. Even if we took the time to ask, there is no simple answer to that question. To paraphrase Tip O’Neil, all garbage is local. In the United States we have fostered the principle that more recycling is the answer, and this belief is the foundation for many regulatory and social decisions. As we continue our focus on recycling, we sometimes ignore other possibilities that may have their own environmental benefits.

There hast to be a local market! "Some items are collected for recycling even though they have no economic markets in this country and are shipped overseas for processing. Some items collected through recycling could potentially be dangerous or expensive to process in this country, and once again they are shipped overseas. In both instances, we ignore the environmental cost of transatlantic shipments, as well as the environmental practices of the receiving country. Unfortunately, that ignorance has an environmental price. We are often exporting materials to countries that have lax environmental regulations compared to our own."

“While dropping commodity prices have certainly affected the entire industry, companies that are producing a clean product are still able to find buyers. Though profits are less than before, the demand for high-quality products has not completely been eliminated. Single-stream recycling collection is a growing trend on a nationwide basis, but the quality issue may pause the expansion. In single-stream collection, all recycling materials are mixed together in one container, typically a rollout cart that is emptied with either a semi- or fully automated vehicle. The result is a less-clean product, especially as it comes to paper. Chips of broken glass become embedded in the paper and reduce the marketability of both the glass and the paper. Recycling companies that can offer the cleanest and highest quality product have the best chance of continued profitability.”

“For recycling to be economically feasible, there has to be a market into which the collected materials can be sold, and there also needs to be a market willing to purchase the items as raw materials for their products...

We must close-the-loop! "By mandating the purchase of products with recycled content, or by requiring a minimum amount of recycled materials in manufactured products, the federal government can help stimulate the buy-recycled loop. There has been a lack of research and development in this country devoted to recycling technologies. Too often, foreign countries have been willing to assume this burden, alleviating us of the need. As a result, we are dependent on them to process our materials.”

From manufacturer to consumer, we are all responsible! “Product stewardship is another area that may have large rewards for the environment. This pollution-prevention movement involves all the stakeholders of a product, including manufacturers, retailers, consumers, and government officials. All parties are encouraged to look for opportunities to minimize waste and reduce potential environmental liability. Product stewardship is a voluntary approach that has its origin in the regulatory aspect of extended producer responsibility (EPR). EPR is common throughout much of the industrialized world, with the exception of the United States. It requires manufacturers to take responsibility for the entire life cycle of their products, including disposal...”

Additional Resources:

Closing the Loop: Guide to Packaging Material Flows and Terminology  
A Publication of GreenBlue
This informative guide defines the major packaging materials (aluminum, glass, steel, plastic, and paper) and introduces the various terms and synonyms that are applied to the materials during the life cycle phases of production, use and collection, and reprocessing in effort to solve communication issues among packaging designers, consumers, and recyclers.

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Download the Dirty Dozen - Summit County Drop-Off Center's Most Unwanted Materials

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|| Please respect YOUR community recycling center!

1). No Illegal Dumping!!! Illegal dumping and contamination of the recycling bins increases the overall cost to recycle and it jeopardizes many aspects of our community recycling program. From mattresses to paint to TVs to carpets, illegally dumped items at the drop-off centers have increased costs to manage the FREE, public drop-off centers over the past few years. Offenders intentionally leaving materials that are not accepted could be cited and fined.  Signs will list materials that are not accepted (see #2).

2). Read the recycling signs carefully - they are there for a reason and yes, it really does matter what you throw in the bin! Some of the bins have moved around at the drop-off centers and recycling signs have changed. Please don't risk recycling contamination - read the signs.

3). Remember to turn off your engine while you recycle - the recycling center is a No Idling Zone. Idling is bad for our lungs and the environment. It also wastes gas! Turn your car off and enjoy the financial and environmental savings.

4). Styrofoam is NOT recyclable at the drop-off centers - do NOT throw peanuts, ice chests, containers, cups... made of Styrofoam into ANY of the bins. Not only does it contaminate recycling streams, it blows around the recycling center and litters our walkways and surrounding forests. No matter what number it has, it is not accepted at any of the drop-off centers. Click here to get the Facts on Styrofoam!

5). Please EMPTY liquids and quickly RINSE food containers - Food contamination can inhibit the recycling process and even devalue recycling loads. Want to recycle? You have to rinse! We’re not asking you to wash your recyclables in the dishwasher. Simply pour out food containers and quickly rinse. It’s important to save energy too!

|| 2009 Summit County Recycling Guide

Appliances: accepted at Summit County landfill.  Call first 468-9263.  Freon MUST be removed from refrigerators, contact 668-5703 for information and fees. 

Electronics: $8 per monitor; $8 per CPU; $13 per TV (TV's greater than 26" will be charged at 20 cents a pound); $13 per large printer or scanner. Large loads of electronics can be weighed at 20 cents per pound.  All other nonhazardous electronics such as VCRs, phones, coffee makers, fax machines, cell phones, and small printers are FREE to recycle at the Recycling Facility at the landfill in Keystone. Dependent upon Summit County Landfill hours (Weekdays 7am-4pm), closes during high wind advisories, call ahead, 468-9263. Please check with Summit County Landfill for current landfill prices. Call 668-5703 for info.

Household Hazardous Waste – accepted at Summit County landfill.  Closed December-April. Fees apply.  Learn more on our HHW page or call 668-5703.  Includes paint, pesticides, mercury containing devices, fluorescent bulbs, chemicals, cleaners, sealers.

Skis & Poles – seasonal collection.  Call for status of program (668-5703).

Christmas Trees – Dec. 26th-Jan. 31st, 2009
This year each town has a place to recycle Christmas trees. Please make sure all ornamentation, including tinsel, is removed. The locations are marked with signs and are as follows: Breckenridge- at the Slash Drop on Wellington Road; Frisco- at the Marina in the empty lot to the right; Dillon- at the Dillon Town Hall lot; and Silverthorne- across from the second Three Peaks Entrance. Trees may also be taken to the Summit County landfill’s wood waste drop off area. Call 668-5703 for detailed directions to the locations.

Slash & Wood Waste – accepted at Summit County Landfill. Must be separate loads for lower rates - no treated, creosoted, painted or stained lumber in construction - nails and screws ok, but no metal bigger than 4 inches. Effective 1/1/09 stumps must be separated from slash. They are no longer considered slash rate and go into the landfill at current trash rates. Fees for slash and wood waste vary by season; call the landfill for details, 970-468-9263.

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