Happy Colorado Recycles Week and America Recycles Day!Colorado Recycles week is November 11th-15th and America Recycles Day is November 15th this year. During Colorado Recycles Week, we are taking to LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to tell the stories of our members. If there was something your team overcame this year, something you personally learned, or something your team is excited to work on for the year to come, tell us! Follow us on social media to be part of the celebration! Send a Member Highlight!Recycle Colorado Highlights
2024 Member HighlightsHigh Country Recycling The Trailer Art Project was an ambitious and creative endeavor by High Country Recycling to beautify the horse trailers that serve as the recycling collection vehicles at both recycling drop-off locations on CR 241 (aka Lake DeWeese Rd.) and the Dundee Dog Park at Butler and Broadway. This project supported Custer County Recycling (CCR) through two grants to HCR from the Rawlings Foundation and Rotary International through the Wet Mountain Valley Rotary. Many in this county may not yet recycle for whatever reason but every Custer County citizen should be concerned National Center for Craftsmanship The National Center for Craftsmanship is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and enhancing quality craftsmanship. We provide education, training, and research to support craft skills at all levels to fill critical shortages of skilled workers and boost economic productivity. We believe that craftsmanship is the cornerstone of quality in various fields, from construction to art. The National Center for Craftsmanship aims to preserve these skills and ensure their continuity.
Sometimes it has been difficult getting the word out when we have materials for sale. At this time, we have not been able to afford a workspace or warehouse, so we can store materials and sell the materials out of that space. We’ve been selling everything on the job sites. As the buildings are taken apart. We would love to have an office warehouse /workspace to sell the materials and bring in students to learn the retail aspects working with the materials and with the public.
At this time, we have diverted and delivered 54 tons of wood materials in just under 3 years! Last year in our Deconstruct program we trained 120 students and diverted over 500 tons of materials away from the landfills back to reuse or recycle. There is no one else in Colorado or in the United States that is an educational non-profit that focuses on training students in deconstruction and reconstruction. I consider myself so lucky to be involved with NCC. The students and volunteers learn skills in a trade, the environment benefits, the public save money on materials, individuals can save in tax deductions, and there is job creation. It truly is a win-win for everyone. Recycled Filament Initiative City of Lafayette Eco-Cycle Compost Queen
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The High Country Recycling (HCR) Trailer Art Project (TAP) wrapped up in September with ten horse trailers going from shabby to stunning. All but three horse trailers have been painted with colorful, distinctive murals by the community. 
How National Center for Craftsmanship Was Born: Before 2006 I was a graduate instructor at Colorado State University and became friends with two of the professors, Dr. Neil Kaufman and Dottie Bentley. After many discussions about what we wanted to do to help the trades, the National Center for Craftsmanship was born. We have several programs within our non-profit. The main program is called Deconstruct. We do deconstruct almost any type of building and bring in students to learn construction by deconstructing the buildings.
Challenges: It has always been a struggle to educate the public on the differences between deconstruction and demolition. Sometimes it is cheaper to do demolition, but then all those tons of materials end up in the landfill, filling it up. Which is such a waste because so much of it can be reused or recycled. Also, having to educate the public on the tax benefits that are available for private individuals and companies since we are an educational nonprofit. Companies and private individuals can get tax deductions when doing a Deconstruct project with us. 
A New Path: After 20 years teaching high school industrial technology, pre-engineering and robotics, I finally left public education and was asked to become executive director for NCC. Before becoming director, I was one of the creators of our non-profit and worked in various capacities on different projects and programs. I created our Education Regeneration program that picks up wood materials donated from our partnering companies and delivers them to vocational education programs up and down the Front Range of Colorado. With all the materials available out there in the trades, no vocational education program should spend a lot of money getting materials to train students. 
"As undergraduates at CSU, my partner (Will Carlson) and I founded the Recycled Filament Initiative. We wanted to solve the on-campus problem of plastic 3d-printer filament waste that was coming out of the art and engineering departments. To make this come true, we applied for the CSU President's Sustainability Commission grant and received over $9,000 to implement plastic filament recyclers across campus! I'm a graduate student at CSU now, and I'm so appreciative of theCSU Sustainability Grant and the RFI--the opportunity taught me how to utilize my passions for recycling materials and take action. One of my favorite parts of the project was educating students and faculty about the recycling machines and its impacts."
The City of Lafayette received support from the State's Front Range Waste Diversion (FRWD) program (now C3) to help develop a City-wide Universal Recycling Ordinance. With this support, the City collaborated with the Technical Assistance Service Provider (TASP) team from Eco-Cycle and RRS to conduct a feasibility study. This collaboration involved a comprehensive community engagement process with owners and property managers in the business community and at apartment complexes. Additionally, the TASP team helped to inform ordinance components, programmatic best practices and identified opportunities for program success. The project resulted in the Lafayette City Council successfully passing the Universal Recycling Ordinance on June 4, 2024. The ordinance will come into effect on January 1, 2025 and the City of Lafayette is currently implementing the program through various outreach and educational initiatives.
Eco-Cycle and CoPIRG 
Compost Queen received an RREO grant in the beginning of 2024, for End Market Development in Northern Colorado - they are still busy implementing it and should have bagged compost available for sale in the spring. Their grant funded composting site (from FRWD 2023) and the launch of their commercial operations (Jan 2024) has allowed them to process more organics than ever. Compost Queen has seen a volume growth of over 50% since the beginning of the year! This means more households and businesses are seeing the importance of composting their organics and diverting their wastes from the landfill. Great job Compost Queen!