Business Recycling

Topics on this page:

• Green Business
• Waste Reduction Information and Sites
• Waste Exchanges
• Paper and Office Waste Reduction Sites
• Computer Recycling
• Buy Recycled Products
• Larimer County Hazardous Wastes BHAPE Program
• Recycling Containers and Products
• Cell Phone Recycling and Reuse

Change the environment at work. Rather than "trashing" your office paper, newspaper, and cardboard, recycle it instead! Offices, both in government and in the private sector, generate over 10 million tons of waste paper each year.

In starting an office recycling program, a common tendency is to focus on business papers. However, newspapers and corrugated cardboard may comprise a significant portion of your office waste stream and should be collected for recycling. You may also want to add glass, toner cartridges, aluminum and plastics to your office's recycling program. Local trash haulers and recycling companies offer recycling services -- check the yellow pages under "Recycling Services". Call 221-6600 for a Guide to Recycling in the Office brochure. For more detailed information see Recycling Office Waste - A Step by Step Guide.

Green Business

• Click on these links to learn what you or your organization can do to minimize the environmental impacts of holding meetings: http://www.bluegreenmeetings.org and http://www.epa.gov/oppt/greenmeetings
• It's Easy Being Green! A Guide to Planning and Conducting Environmentally Aware Meetings and Events (pdf file) produced by the U.S. EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response.
• Green Hotels Association -- what are they?
• Greening the Building and the Bottom Line: Increasing Productivity Through Energy-Efficient Design (pdf file), report by Rocky Mountain Institute and U.S. Energy Department.
• Sustainable Building Technical Manual - Green Building Design, Construction, and Operations (pdf file), developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency partnering with Public Technology Inc.
• GreenBiz.com -- A resource center on business, the environment and the bottom line.
• Whole Building Design Guide -- is a complete Internet resource maintained by the National Institute of Building Sciences that includes a wide range of building-relate design guidance, criteria and technology for incorporating sustainable building design practices in design decisions.
• EPA - Green Buildings -- this site links to many different EPA sustainable building resources, ranging from Energy Star to Healthy Schools.
• Green Builder Program of Colorado

General Waste Reduction Information and Sites:

EPA Wastewise http://epa.gov/wastewise/

Recycled Products Cooperative http://www.recycledproducts.org

Things You Can Do at the Office and Home to Reduce Waste (pdf)

Waste Reduction Tips for Businesses (pdf)

Source Reduction - Savings for Business (pdf)

General guidelines for what is and isn't recyclable paper products... more->>

Waste Exchanges:

COMex - Colorado Materials Exchange. www-ucsu.colorado.edu/comex/. The Colorado Materials Exchange (COMex) provides an on-line bulletin board for exchanging computers and electronics between businesses that have a surplus of such materials and community groups in Colorado who could use them. COMex operates the web site that is a free listing service for available and wanted computers and electronic equipment. When institutions or businesses donate working equipment that still has practical application, they help bridge the "digital divide" providing community groups with technology they would not be able to afford otherwise.

Click here for additional Electronics Exchanges listings.

Paper and Office Waste Reduction Sites:

Conservatree has a website dedicated to providing comprehensive information about environmental papers. www.conservatree.com

American Forest and Paper Association Recycling Paper poster (pdf)

Recycle Tyvek envelopes here.

Computer Recycling

Hewlett Packard's Recycling Program for Businesses and homes
www.hp.com/hpinfo/globalcitizenship/environment/recycle/index.html

IBM PC Recycling
www-132.ibm.com/content/search/computer-disposal.html

For more information about computer and electronics recycling, see the Computer Recycling section of this website.

Buy Recycled. Collection alone is not really recycling. Closing the loop by purchasing products made from recycled material is equally important in achieving true recycling and creating a market from the products.

Solid Waste Haulers and Local Recycling Companies

Recycling Containers and Products

• Amazing Recycled Products - (800) 241-2174, www.amazingrecycled.com
• Bagit System - (800) 622-2448, www.bagitsystem.com/
• Busch Systems International - (800) 565-9931, www.buschsystems.com
• Eco-Pop Designs - (650) 728-9220, www.eco-popdesigns.com/
• Link-a-Bag Systems - (800) 321-8154, www.linkabag.com
• Midpoint International Recycling Products - www.midpoint-int.com
• The Plastic Lumber Company - (800) 886-8990, www.plasticlumber.com/
• Recy-Cal Supply Company - (800) 927-3873, www.recy-cal.com/
• Rehrig Pacific Company - (800) 421-6244, www.rehrigpacific.com/Product.htm
• Toter - (704) 872-8171, www.toter.com
• Tulip Corporation - (414) 963-3120, www.tulipproducts.com
• Windsor Barrels - (800) 527-7848, www.windsorbarrel.com

Cell Phone Recycling and Reuse

Click here for more information on recycling options for cell phones or consider donating working equipment.