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Sustainability Spotlight - February 2021 - Waste Warriors Unite!

By: Montana Stevenson, Sustainable Wheat Ridge member

Did you know that Coloradans sent over 80% of their waste to landfills in 2019? We only kept about 16% of our household waste out of landfills through composting and recycling, while the US national average for household landfill diversion is 35%! We’ve got a ways to go here in Colorado, but you can do something about it.

Join a waste reduction challenge for residents of Wheat Ridge.

Step 1: Take stock of what you’re throwing out through a home waste audit using our handy waste audit guide.
Step 2: Share your findings from your audit.
Step 3: Make a pledge for how you plan to reduce your waste this month!

Visit our Solid Waste & Recycling webpage on the Wheat Ridge City website to watch a short video guide on conducting an audit! We’ve also posted the directions for how to conduct the home waste audit and where you can share your findings and pledge.

Become a #WasteWarrior.

For those who aren’t ready to take the plunge on the home waste audit idea without some more background, let’s talk trash for a minute here. The US is one of the world’s largest trash producers: as a country, we represent about 4-5% of the global population and yet we produce about 30% of the world’s waste. The majority of the waste that gets thrown out by households and businesses in the US still ends up in landfills. According to the 2019 State of Recycling in Colorado Report, over 95% of waste going to landfills in our state could be diverted for other purposes. Remember we’re only diverting about 16% of total residential waste produced today so there’s a lot more we could do. Not only are we not getting additional economic value out of these materials we’re sending to landfills that could have other uses, landfills create other issues.

Landfills are the third largest producer of methane gas in the US after the energy and agricultural sectors. Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, meaning it can trap 28-36 times as much heat as a similar amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. So it is a contributor to global warming. Besides methane, they also release other gases that can migrate to neighboring communities and cause a slew of health complaints: eye, throat and lung irritation; nausea and headaches; and, aggravation of asthma. Aside from pollution, landfills are also problematic because as they fill up, the only option is to make them bigger or make more of them, but they never go away!

So what can you do about it? Well a home waste audit is one place to start. You’ll learn what types of items you are throwing out and where you could make some changes in your household to start reducing and diverting your waste from landfills. Our waste audit guide is very easy to use and we include some local recycling resources at the end. You might be surprised with what you find, and we encourage you to share data and feedback in our waste audit survey.

February Sustainability Updates:

The City of Wheat Ridge is accepting new neighborhood applications for the Sustainable Neighborhoods program! A virtual open house event is scheduled for Thursday, February 18 at 5:30 p.m. To find out more about the event, click here. The City will be accepting applications for the program until Monday, March 22. To find out more about the program and the application, click here.
The City is partnering with Resource Central to bring the Garden in a Box program to Wheat Ridge! $25 discounts will be awarded to the first 50 residents that purchase a water-wise Garden in a Box this spring. Professionally designed for Colorado yards, these kits are easy to use and can help residents save about 7,300 gallons of water over the garden’s lifetime compared to a traditional grass lawn, which will also save residents money on their water bills. Visit ResourceCentral.org/Gardens to order a water-wise Garden In A Box starting on March 1, 2021.