Arvada Recycling Drop Off

by admin on 09/27/2011

Post image for Arvada Recycling Drop Off

Big News – my town of Arvada, CO has opened up a recycling drop-off for the town. Teaming up with Waste Management and re-purposing a pre-existing drop-off for yard clippings, this new drop-off now offers a single stream recycling the option to citizens of Arvada drop off any recyclable materials that they may not otherwise be recycling. The drop-off is located at 6161 Olde Wadsworth Boulevard (just North of Olde Town). See map below.

Arvada Recycling Drop Off Location

View Larger Map

Now- not to be confused with Arvada Recycling Center (a quaint location that accepts certain recyclable materials and will purchase non-Ferrous metals), the Arvada Recycling Drop off is located just north of Olde Town on Olde Wadsworth (see map). The single stream recycling roll off container sits in the southwest corner of the City of Arvada Street Maintenance Facility parking lot.

Image of recycling roll off containerYou can read my thoughts on single stream recycling and the materials that are allowed- short version: common containers, bottles, plastics #1 – 7. At any rate, I recently dropped off my first recycling load at the single stream roll-off (see picture).

Personally, I feel this is a great benefit to the area as I’ll no longer haul my recyclables up to the Boulder Recycling Center. Frankly, there may be other drop-off locations close to Arvada, but I often have the need to be in Boulder and dropping off recycling is just something I can do (and stop off at Avery Brewery afterwards). Incidentally, I’ll be able to swing by the Arvada Beer Company when it opens in early October 2011. :)

Let me know what you think about this new addition to Arvada in the comments. Too little too late? About time? … or something else?

{ 0 comments }

EcoPower Motor Oil Image

I recently took my car in for a regular oil change. To my curiosity and surprise I saw materials and an option for a new (well, new to me) type of oil change- an EcoPower Eco Friendly oil change. When I asked the store technician at my local GreaseMonkey he indicated “I think it’s more of a marketing ploy, but it uses recycled and re-refined motor oil which uses 85% less energy to product than conventional oil AND helps to reduce dependance on foreign oil.” Interesting. It is a similar synthetic oil change at the same price point – why wouldn’t anyone try this (if you’re buying synthetic oil changes). My thought exactly.

Green Oil Change – Recycling and reusing motor oil through re-refining
Like I said, this is new to me, so I’d be interested to hear if anyone has been using this oil for oil changes and if they notice any performance degradation or issues with using this oil. Please let me and other readers know of your experience in the comments section.

At any rate, Safety-Kleen the company that manufactures EcoPower Motor Oil appears to be doing positive things by collecting used oil from service shops and producing re-refined oil. A recent August 2011 press release from Safety-Kleen state that they have achieved a triple digit increase over last year’s sales (and let’s face it, even if it is just 100%, that is phenomenal growth) and is now available in over 700 service shops in the US. That’s a really great growth number for an industry that lacks many opportunities to make themselves “green”.

I have often wondered what service stations do with the recycled oil or rather, where the reclaimed oil goes and what it becomes? I’m glad to learn of this alternative and “eco-friendl-ier” oil change option.

When you need to get an oil change, please consider a green oil change (at participating auto repair, maintenance and lube shops). In an industry that takes a lot of heat for sustainability, political and cost issues, it’s nice to see that there is an option for a greener oil change when you take your vehicle in for routine servicing. At least consider it. Find a location offering EcoPower motor oil.

I did a quick search of “green motor oil” to find other products. I can find a few, G Oil and Pure Green, but am not having much luck of finding another popular manufacturer that have such broad distribution. If this is good for business, I expect that will change over the coming years.

Again, let me know your thoughts in the comments about the concept of re-refined oil and if you’d consider purchasing a green oil change perhaps using EcoPower Motor Oil.

{ 0 comments }

Patagonia encourages buying used

September 14, 2011
Thumbnail image for Patagonia encourages buying used

I’ve always, really, liked Patagonia. As in drool over the catalog/website “like”. Not only do they make great products but they’ve been effective stewards for living a low eco impact lifestyle for the Earth. Yvon Chouinard is a fantastic Founder with a great philosophy- have you read his book – Let My People Go Surfing… [...]

Read the full article →

Single Stream Recycling: Solving for Recycling Separation Anxiety?

September 13, 2011
Thumbnail image for Single Stream Recycling: Solving for Recycling Separation Anxiety?

If innovation in the recycling industry exists, then single stream recycling may be the most convenient recycling innovation to the consumer in quite some time. Basically, it takes the separation of the recycling materials out of the front end of the process and places it on the service provider/collector. Personally, I’ve had recycling separation anxiety [...]

Read the full article →

Recycling Paperboard

February 27, 2010

Recycling paperboard has made the biggest impact in how much “trash” gets thrown away in our household. Since removing paperboard from our trash to the recycle pile, our weekly trash volume was cut by 40%. Weekly, we would place 2.5 bags of “trash” out for our curbside trash pickup for transport to the landfill. Now, [...]

Read the full article →

Compost Pail for Kitchen Recycling

December 31, 2009

Before the year is out I wanted to tell you about an awesome gift I received for Christmas! In an effort to further reduce the organic waste, from our kitchen, that we contribute to our weekly trash (and ultimately, landfills) I was given a compost pail for Christmas. This compost pail (pictured left), which I [...]

Read the full article →

Carton Recycling

November 18, 2009
Thumbnail image for Carton Recycling

I’m always puzzled at whether or not food items that come in cartons, specifically juice or milk cartons, can be recycled. I know that cardboard and paperboard can be recycled, but cartons seem to be a hybrid of the two, sometimes glossy, sometimes thicker than traditional paperboard. Do any of those qualities disqualify the carton [...]

Read the full article →

America Recycles Day November 15

November 12, 2009
Thumbnail image for America Recycles Day November 15

Hey! America Recycles Day is this week. Are you recycling? If you didn’t know America Recycles Day is, officially, this Sunday the 15th of November.  Now in it’s twelfth year, according to the site, this day was established to encourage Americans to evaluate their recycling habits, increase their own recycling efforts (something this blog is [...]

Read the full article →

Recycle This!

September 30, 2009

Like any blog, one has to start somewhere. I start here, now…somewhere in the middle.

As I get older, I become more aware about what I consume in terms of purchases and all the physical materials that are part of a purchase. Whether it be groceries, clothes from a store, a new tv (or computer), birthday gifts, cards……you name it, I seem to be more conscious about the fact that if I buy something there are byproduct(s) of consumption/consumerism that have to be dealt with.

Read the full article →