Recycle 101

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Originally Posted by whirnot

He must be a ways outside Greeley, or just makes no attempt. We have excellent recycling here. In town we have curbside recycling for about $5 per month, single stream for everything. Plastics catagories 1 through 7. The city also has a large recycling center downtown with mulitple roll offs, for different items. Our recycling stream is about 5 times as much as our trash stream. Even tennis shoes can be recycled within 20 miles. (NIKE) There is a large recycling facility in the country just north of town.

His ranch is by Pawnee National Grassland.

Nobody outside of that part of Colorado really knows where that is, so I just say it's outside of Greeley.

[delta07]

Originally Posted by Coniferian

Thanks Delta. We like our new house and the general feel of the area. Everyone has been very friendly to us. Although expected, we are greatly saddened to have our elderly Border Collie pass away yesterday. He saw us safely through the move and figured his job of herding us was finally complete.

Recycling is essential now, although I believe that paper is still a net loss, costing more in transportation than its recycle value. We have mature deciduous trees on our lot which have produced prodigious amounts of leaves. In Colorado we could just ignore our aspen leaves but feel we must remove them here. We didn't really have a lawn in the foothills either so we'll be dealing with grass clippings next year. Many adjustments, but we're glad to be here. The difference between the high desert of Grand Junction CO and the high desert of C.O. must have been striking to you.

So sorry to hear about your pup. It's never easy to lose such a faithful friend.

It was quite a contrast coming from GJ to Bend, and perhaps that's why my view about the sunshine is what it is.

[Coniferian]

We were fortunate to arrive here during two weeks of beautiful fall weather. We'll miss the Colorado sunshine, the view from our deck and the wildlife on our property, but not the 10' or so of snow we got every winter. Thicker air to breathe is another benefit of making our home nearly 5,000' lower.

[Hawk J]

Coniferian, i'm so very sorry for your loss of your beloved pal.

[Coniferian]

Thanks for the kind words about our departed Little Lad.

To the original subject, I now find that recycle will also not take rigid plastic, ie styrofoam packing material. Near as I can tell the only thing they will take are plastic water bottles, which don't go very far in filling up the huge recycle bin (we don't buy 'em). I bought a new gas grill and the packing material will totally fill our garbage cart or I'll have to pay $2.80 a bag extra to get rid of it. In my previous state you would sometimes see piles of trash dumped in ravines to avoid the landfill charges.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Originally Posted by Coniferian

........ In my previous state you would sometimes see piles of trash dumped in ravines to avoid the landfill charges.

I suggest that you don't. If anyone sees you, you'll be turned in and prosecuted, if you are lucky. If the wrong person sees you, you'll get the snot beat out of you (and rightly so).

Oregonians don't litter and it is one more reason why Californians are disliked. When we see a car with California license plates tossing drink cups, dirty diapers, or lit cigarettes out the window of the moving car, we do not consider that to be endearing.

Plastic goes into the mixed recycle. I just checked my mixed recycle. It contains a milk jug, paper of mostly the junk mail type, shirt board, and a wad of aluminum foil. That water bottle has a deposit on it, so you take it back to the store and return it.

[Coniferian]

We had a small gorge near our home that people would dump trash into, even old cars after reporting them stolen for insurance purposes. Finally stopped when they put up a guardrail. I'm all for recycling but they sure have a long list of plastic things they won't take. Fortunately they're taking the hundreds of flattened cardboard boxes we used to move. For some reason they left all the glass bottles and jars I left in the glass bin too.

[jodys1973]

The first two places that I would check is a Uhaul. They almost always have a box there that people use to drop of the boxes they used, I think the employees check them because I have never come across a bad on. Plus if you get some boxes there, if you don't use them you can return them. Like we will be doing tomorrow.
But our last move, which was mid August, we put an add on Craigslist and kept an eye on those who moved and put their own ad up. Only problem with that is you never know what you are going to get.
As for plastic boxes, a big, big no no. Cold weather and plastic do not mix at all. We only move less that a mile and all the plastic boxes cracked. In my opinion cardboard has a lot more give to it. Also, in my numerous moves, I witnessed an older lady that thought the best thing would be to leave 4 to 6 inches at the top, because she didn't want to smash her stuff. BIG mistake. the boxes buckled and ripped open and her stuff was every where.

[Coniferian]

We found a local UPS/shipping outlet that was glad to take our old bubblewrap and styrofoam peanuts, which filled several large garbage bags. Most of our cardboard boxes were liquor boxes, which we flatten and are picked up every other week, no problem. We used some Rubbermaid tubs, which we filled with Christmas decorations and put in the crawlspace after unpacking clothes from them.