How the West was Saved from Waste
Yampa Valley Recycles: Past, Present and Future 1989-2010
By Yampa Valley Recycles Members
Remember 1989? The Berlin Wall came down, acid washed jeans were the rage and the first Batman movie became the biggest grossing movie ever. Something else was happening too. Quietly and slowly, people everywhere were awakening to environmental concerns and vowing to do something. In the Yampa Valley we were way ahead. A community effort called Environment 2000 was a rallying point for all things environmental and local citizens Gigi and Johnny Walker, Arianthe Stettner, Cindy Wither, Cynthia Rutledge and coordinator extraordinaire Noreen Moore became the core group spearheading the educational effort. Various conferences addressed issues such as bioregionalism, global warming (an issue even back then), water resources, sustainable development and economic growth, recycling and other timely topics. Evolving out of Environment 2000's educational efforts was the Yampa Valley Recycle Committee.
In the beginning it was all about basic community recycling. B & K Distributors started to accept glass containers for recycling. The Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. and the local Safeway coordinated to begin recycling cardboard from the ski area yielding nine tons of cardboard in the first year. Many local businesses began to use recycled office and computer paper. Colorado Mountain College started it's first ever Environmental Issues course and began to recycle glass and aluminum containers from the campus. Steamboat Springs became the first Western Slope community to offer curbside recycling of newspaper, glass and aluminum. To top off the education efforts, the first annual Yampa Valley Recycle brochure was printed and listed what could be recycled and where the materials would be accepted. This guide is now published and mailed annually to every mailing address in the county.
Individual efforts turned into new business opportunities. The first, and still only Western Slope MRF (Material Recovery Facility) was started at Waste Management and was co-sponsored by the State of Colorado, Routt County and the City of Steamboat Springs. In 1999, the recycle committee became Yampa Valley Recycles, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization under the Yampa Valley Community Foundation, making grant opportunities possible to assist in funding projects. G & S Mountain Recyclers is a local business that recycles electronic waste in a state-of-the-art facility that responsibly processes electronic waste. G & S Mountain Recyclers and Yampa Valley Recycles held the first electronic recycle day on July 27th, 2002. Home ReSource, a non-profit business, recycles new and used building materials with facilities conveniently located at the Milner landfill. The business base that serves our many winter and summer visitors began to realize the marketing gains they could attain from reducing, reusing and recycling material and being environmentally responsible.
It's one thing to have facilities and programs in place; it's another to get people to use them. By 2000, Yampa Valley Recycles' focus was on education and accessibility. Ginny Winn, aka “Whistle Pig Willie,” began a middle school recycle education program called “Recycle Wranglers” which has since become an ongoing program and a main activity of Yampa Valley Recycles. The first PRU or Pedestrian Recycle Unit was designed, constructed and installed at 7th and Lincoln in downtown Steamboat Springs. A total of seven more were placed in the next three years. The PRUs are recycle containers and multiple newspaper dispensing structures that provide recycle opportunities for downtown pedestrians and reduce the clutter of newspaper boxes on street corners. Yampa Valley Recycles published a Construction Site Recycle Guide for local building contractors to help reduce waste from operations, recycle building material for new uses (such as donating to Home ReSource) and save money. All of these programs show people how easy it is to reduce, reuse and recycle.
While the past programs continue and are effective, new programs are also being developed. YVR has established satellite recycle opportunities for Oak Creek and Yampa as well as other remote sites which are generously funded by Routt County. The “Green Machines” have been an instant success and are heavily used. Grants for household recycle bins have been secured and distributed. Florescent bulb recycle opportunities are now offered and subsidized by YVR in conjunction with the Yampa Valley Electric Association (YVEA) which has started a low-cost CFL (compact fluorescent light bulb) program for all interested parties. YVR is a yearly participant in the Routt County Highway clean up day held every May. A reusable shopping “green bag” program has been started by YVR and over 10,000 bags were sold during the first year. Awards have been given out annually for “Recycler of the Year” in several categories. YVR purchased four fifty-gallon portable recycle containers for use by local event organizers to make recycling at events easy and low cost.
What do we do next? We face big challenges. Probably the most ambitious would be to keep as many of our recyclable materials in the county and use them locally or supply to local markets, with the number one material being glass. Plenty of work remains to be done in the future and the community can help with donations, gifts or by volunteering labor. We need all the help we can get so please contact us at www.yampavalleyrecycles.org, at our Hotline 970-870-7575, or contact the Yampa Valley Community Foundation.
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