2008 Colorado Summit for Recycling

All are welcome to join this forum of individuals and organizations that actively promote responsible electronics reuse and recycling within EPA Region 8 and surrounding states. Participation from you provides a valuable perspective as we look for ways to share ideas, pool resources, form partnerships, and perhaps shape the future of regional electronics stewardship.

The Western Region Electronics Stewardship group formed in October 2007 and have been holding monthly electronics stewardship education calls on various pertinent topics. A steering committee of this group has also been meeting separately to work on three different paths for the large group to pursue:

• A regional model similar to the Take It Back Network & Education strategies;
• Regional electronics legislation;
• Certification of electronics recyclers.

At the Roundtable, an outline of each action plan will be presented and a discussion facilitated by Becky Wike Goyton from Denver Recycles will take place regarding what the next steps would be for each path, how it might work for this region specifically, and how you can get involved!

A Moderated Work Session: We will assemble a group of compost producers, researcher’s, and scientist and moderate a session to discuss aspects of compost and compost production required to produce a true compost product that is stable, mature, and safe. Additional updates to the Rocky Mountain Organics Council (RMOC) Compost Classification System will also be discussed and agreed to.

Objective:To define minimum standards for Compost required by new legislation and to update the RMOC Classification System based on input from industry participants directly affected by new legislation.

New legislation will require the Colorado Department of Agriculture and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to define a minimum standard for Compost and to develop rules regarding the production and marketing of compost. The rule making process required by this legislation is now in process and will be finalized in the coming months.

After the work session, the information and the definitions will be provided to the Colorado Department of Agriculture and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment along with a recommendation that it be used as the required standards within the new legislation.

This definition and the related requirements for production will have an effect on the business of all compost producers within the state of Colorado, including those operating without a permit. It is vital that if you want your opinion heard and considered that you attend and have input in this process.

After the work session, all properly permitted compost operators, regulators, and industry professionals are invited to attend the RMOC annual business meeting. This meeting will be a foundational meeting setting direction and leadership for the RMOC as it moves forward.

Every community is unique and requires a unique solution to its waste diversion and recycling challenges. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Whether you are responsible for designing your community’s perfect system, or just wish to influence the decision makers, it’s important to know what tools are available and how they work. Join us for this workshop to learn about some unique programs and services implemented by some of Colorado’s most successful communities, and learn about some new program options as well as some of the tried and true.

The presentations will include an overview of what’s currently happening in Colorado; information on a variety of program and service options; recommendations about how communities can move forward in designing and implementing programs and services; information about involving the community; information around incentive based programs; and specific discussions about program design and implementation in the City of Lafayette, the City of Aspen and the Upper Arkansas Area. 

This workshop panel has an amazing amount of experience and expertise in designing and implementing waste diversion programs.  To tap into their immense knowledge, this workshop will allow time to include discussions and problem solving for workshop attendees.

Auden Schendler is Executive Director of Community and Environmental Responsibility at Aspen Skiing Company, a pioneering green business in the U.S. He worked previously in corporate sustainability at Rocky Mountain Institute. Auden’s writing has been published in Harvard Business Review, the L.A. Times, and Salon.com, among other journals. In 2006, Auden was named a global warming innovator by Time magazine. His book, The Forever Business: Dispatches from the Sustainability Frontier, is scheduled to be published next fall by Public Affairs. Details on his work, and other writings are at: www.aspensnowmass.com/environment.

This panel discussion is intended to be a robust dialogue on developing steps to incorporate recycling and waste diversion into carbon credits, tax credits for offsetting emissions, carbon banking, or other mechanism to give credit for recycling as an active and effective means of reducing GHG emissions and impacts in Colorado and help integrate them into public policy and corporate decision-making policies.

All are welcome to join this forum of individuals and organizations that actively promote responsible electronics reuse and recycling within EPA Region 8 and surrounding states. Participation from you provides a valuable perspective as we look for ways to share ideas, pool resources, form partnerships, and perhaps shape the future of regional electronics stewardship.

The Western Region Electronics Stewardship group formed in October 2007 and have been holding monthly electronics stewardship education calls on various pertinent topics. A steering committee of this group has also been meeting separately to work on three different paths for the large group to pursue:

• A regional model similar to the Take It Back Network & Education strategies;
• Regional electronics legislation;
• Certification of electronics recyclers.

At the Roundtable, an outline of each action plan will be presented and a discussion facilitated by Becky Wike Goyton from Denver Recycles will take place regarding what the next steps would be for each path, how it might work for this region specifically, and how you can get involved!

Every community is unique and requires a unique solution to its waste diversion and recycling challenges. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Whether you are responsible for designing your community’s perfect system, or just wish to influence the decision makers, it’s important to know what tools are available and how they work. Join us for this workshop to learn about some unique programs and services implemented by some of Colorado’s most successful communities, and learn about some new program options as well as some of the tried and true.

The presentations will include an overview of what’s currently happening in Colorado; information on a variety of program and service options; recommendations about how communities can move forward in designing and implementing programs and services; information about involving the community; information around incentive based programs; and specific discussions about program design and implementation in the City of Lafayette, the City of Aspen and the Upper Arkansas Area. 

This workshop panel has an amazing amount of experience and expertise in designing and implementing waste diversion programs.  To tap into their immense knowledge, this workshop will allow time to include discussions and problem solving for workshop attendees.

EPA Region 8 is kicking off a new initiative to "spread the word" about Pay As You Throw (PAYT) across Colorado. These incentive-based rates are in place all over the nation - including some notables here in Colorado (Boulder, Fort Collins, Lafayette, among others). However, despite extremely strong performance and acceptance in communities, there are not very many programs in Colorado. EPA Region 8 thinks it can grow, and that PAYT can be a linchpin in moving Colorado's diversion out of the near-basement Biocycle's numbers place us in.

Pay as you throw (PAYT) or variable rates (VR) provide a different way to bill for garbage service. Instead of paying a fixed bill for unlimited collection, these systems require households to pay more if they put out more garbage – usually measured either by the can or bag of garbage. Paying by volume (like you pay for electricity, water, groceries, etc.) provides households with an incentive to recycle more and reduce disposal.

These incentive-based rates help increase recycling cost-effectively – and are practical whether you use city staff to collect (like Loveland ), contract (like Lafayette) or have private haulers (like Boulder), partnerships, or other.

The Pitkin County facility is a municipally owned Solid Waste Center (SWC). Through innovative waste-reduction programs, the Pitkin SWC has achieved a diversion rate of 50%. The tour highlights all of the center’s solid waste programs: composting, aggregate recovery, household hazardous waste and electronic waste, scrap metal, salvage and conventional recycling programs. Pitkin County realizes that the landfill is a resource with a finite life, and, because of this, has become a leader in waste diversion in Colorado.

Meet in the Exhibit Hall, ready to go, at 3:15pm. Shuttle vans will meet outside the St. Regis and drive to the SWC at 3:30pm. Tour lasts about an hour and will return to town by 5:30pm.

Architect Jeffrey Berkus will lead the tour of the Aspen Institute’s Gold-certified LEED Green Building. The tour highlights the components that helped the building earn a LEED Gold rating and other green elements of the resort and conference center, including a 14-foot deep reflecting pond to geothermally heat and cool the building. The tour will also include a close-up look at Andy Goldsworthy's "stone river" - a red sandstone wall comprised of international materials. It originates in the adjacent meadow, meanders through a reflecting pool, flows into the building and emerges out the other side to gracefully align with the Roaring Fork River.

Meet in the Exhibit Hall, ready to go, at 3:15pm (or meet at Rubey Park Transportation Center, across from the St. Regis on Durant Ave by 3:30pm). Get on the Cross Town Shuttle to Harris Hall at 3:36pm. Tour lasts about an hour and busses return on the :15 and :45 past the hour. Shuttles are free.

8:45 to 9:25 – An overview of industrial recycling including industry and EPA perspectives.  Various materials will be discussed and their applications in transportation, land use, construction, mine reclamation and green building.    Dave Goss, representing the Industrial Resources Council will proved this overview. 

9:25 to 10:05 – Dr. Mark Reiner will discuss the partnership between CU Denver and the City and County of Denver that supported the development of “Greenprint Denver” and the advantages that incorporating industrial recycling offers a city in its efforts to be more sustainable. 

10:05 – 10:15 Q&

This session will provide a review of the 2007 Colorado legislative session and discuss a strategic plan for legislation for the next five years.

The purpose of the panel will be to familiarize attendees with the concept of cooperative marketing. Case studies will be presented which demonstrate how CTRA: Cooperative Teamwork and Recycling Assistance has been successful in Texas. Data will also be presented on cash flow, budgeting and operational strategies as well as the environmental impact of cooperative marketing programs.

Cash4Trash Recycling Associates (CTRA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization which was formed in November 1994, based on the concept of cooperative marketing. Today, CTRA consists of 42 rural recycling cooperatives representing more than 500 public, private and nonprofit entities.

The organization's mission is to provide cooperative marketing of recyclable commodities, to promote the development of end-markets for recyclables in Texas and to promote education about recycling. By providing cooperative marketing opportunities, technical assistance and recycling education, CTRA strives to support the viability of recycling as a solid waste management option for its members.

New to business recycling or want to pick up some tips? Come learn the basics of waste reduction and business recycling and some unique approaches to recycling program development and logistics. We’ll spotlight the EPA’s WasteWise program that focuses on source reduction, the top of the waste hierarchy. We’ll have some general and specific information on how to develop a business recycling program from one of Northern Colorado’s business recycling guru’s. And, finally, we’ll hear about the successes of a partnership between Aramark and the City and County of Denver’s Red Rock’s Theater, which presented some interesting challenges and was driven by some unusual circumstances.

Join nationally known experts in a lively discussion about how recycling and community diversion programs relates to climate change and strategies to reduce carbon footprints. Learn how the life cycles of recyclables translates into increased efficiency and reduced greenhouse gas emissions; tools to calculate carbon footprints and the benefits of recycling; how communities and businesses are integrating the development and enhancement of diversion programs with climate protection planning; and the potential role of diversion programs in voluntary carbon trading markets.

This session will explore construction & demolition recycling/reuse in urban and rural areas as well as what is going on nationally. Learn what really happens on a construction site from a contractor who has recycled demolition and construction debris for decades.

David has worked in the recycling field since 1989. In 2000, he joined the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, where he leads Oregon's work in waste prevention and evaluating policy and program options from the perspectives of greenhouse gases, energy conservation, and broader environmental impacts.

Colorado is studying our recycling future! Learn about the latest, what the studies are revealing and hear the progress toward our bright future.

Come learn how to make your next public event a "green" one! Find out how the Winter X-Games, the Aspen Food and Wine Festival, and the Boulder County Fair have made strides to maximize resource recovery, engaging both vendors and the public to support sustainability.