Each week, Falcon residents drag their trash barrels to the end of the driveway; the trash or recycling materials gets tossed into large trucks; the barrel goes back and it starts all over again.What happens to the trash and recycling bin contents after it all disappears from the curb?Southeast of Falcon on a dirt road turn-off from Highway 94 is the Waste Management Colorado Springs Landfill. It is one of three legal places for dumping the region’s solid waste.Household waste and materials for recycling are only part of the stream of debris that end up in the state’s landfills and recycling centers. Business and manufacturing waste is 35 to 45 percent of the municipal stream, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Waste Management’s commercial recycling center in Colorado Springs and niche companies like TechWears are working to divert more of that waste into reusable or upcycled products.ìI think there’s a lot of room for improvement in manufacturing, especially with the total lifecycle of products, so we’re not creating so much waste,î said Drew Johnson, owner of TechWears. Johnson worked for Blue Star Recyclers, a Colorado Springs-based electronics recycling firm before he discovered that circuit boards and other electronic components could be crafted into unique jewelry, ties and other accessories.Disposing of electronic devices in the trash stream has been illegal in Colorado since 2013. Cell phones, televisions, computers and any other ìe-wasteî must be appropriately recycled. ìWhat I’ve seen by selling my products is people learn something about recycling at the same time,î Johnson said. ìI hear over and over ‘oh, I just threw away a computer’ ó and now people know its all recyclable.ìOne motherboard from a PC can make 20, 25 pairs of cufflinks.îWaste Management’s commercial recycling center in an industrial area along North El Paso Road in Colorado Springs is making a dent on the rest of the recyclable waste coming out of Southern Colorado’s offices and businesses.ìThe New Falcon Heraldî toured the facility, although no photos were allowed.ìResidential recycling has a much more complicated sorting process, with hand pickers, gravity screens, magnets,î said Enrico Dominguez, communications specialist for Waste Management. ìThe material that comes from commercial sources is much cleaner.î The facility housed huge piles of newsprint, cardboard and plastics from Waste Management customers, trash hauling firms and individual companies that bring their recyclable materials to the facility.To make the process quick and economically viable, large conveyor belts, sorting machines and balers are kept at the facility. However, to protect the machinery and make a usable end product for the firms purchasing the commodities, people have to pick through the stream as it rushes by. ìWhen we’re running newspaper and mixed paper, we have to have people on the line sorting the material and pulling off other items before it can be baled,î Dominguez said.Companies like Waste Management would prefer their customers embrace recycling, because they can sell recycled materials to paper mills and metal companies, in addition to extending the lifespan of their landfill properties.ìWe have a lot of pride in our quality in our baled material,î Dominguez said. ìFrom here, we sell it to paper mills, which are interested in different grades of paper products. If it’s paper fiber, even scraps can be baled at a lower grade.îConsumers should not throw everything that could be recycled into the single-stream bins. Contaminants like garden hoses, certain plastic films and wire can dangerously whip around the huge gears and sorting rollers. Contaminants like food waste can be smeared across an entire bale of paper products, rendering it useless for mills.ìIn single-stream residential recycling, the amount of contaminants are pretty high,î Dominguez said. ìOnly 25 to 30 percent of waste that can be recycled is going into single-stream recycling, and then 30 percent of even that is contaminated such that we have to still send it to the landfill.ìThe key there is what effort the population puts into it will determine how well things are diverted. If you’re throwing a lot of lettuce and sandwich scraps in there, it can contaminate the whole bin’s worth of material. But if they’re really diligent about putting the items on the list in the recycling bin and keep it clean, it would make it much easier for our facilities. It all starts with the initial user. When in doubt, throw it out.îVegetable cuttings, yard waste, food-contaminated paper products and coffee grounds can be composted in a home compost bin or pile to enhance soils. If residents don’t want to compost, regional businesses like Don’s Garden Shop will take tree and shrub clippings, grass, leaves and even horse manure to make rich compost that will later be sold to gardeners.Even if the Pikes Peak region has 50 years of capacity (in landfills) remaining, that doesn’t mean residents can afford to put off recycling, composting or reducing their waste streams. ìIt’s full circle,î Dominguez said. ìIf consumers choose to use products that make it easier to recycle the packaging, it will help the whole process, from start to finish.î
