2009 Friend of Glass - City of Ft. Collins, CO

Organization Name

City of Ft. Collins, Colorado, Natural Resource Department

Web site

http://www.fcgov.com/recycling

Contact Information for Media

Susie Gordon
215 N. Mason
Fort Collins, CO 80521
SGordon@fcgov.com

About Cooperation Karma

The City of Fort Collins Glass Separation Campaign: What's Your Bottle Karma?

In 2007, the Northern Colorado communities of Fort Collins and Loveland in Larimer County began listening to reports of major material losses in community recycling programs. Reports claimed a 70 to 80% loss in glass when glass was placed in commingled bins curbside or at drop-off locations around the region. Essentially, four “recycled” bottles in a six pack were ending up used at landfills as “alternative daily cover” material - not exactly what most citizens felt met the definition of recycling!

The problem was in the complexity of the recovery. Commingled single-stream recycling (the mix of paper materials, glass, plastic and metal cans collected in one container) require sorting facilities that cannot recover the large amounts of broken glass that make up the residential glass stream. The response from the two cities and the county agency was clear. They needed their community members to sort glass in 'glass only bins' that would bypass single-stream sorting facilities and go directly to bottling plants.

In 2009, glass only bins were added to drop-off centers in Fort Collins and Loveland, and at the Larimer County landfill, followed by launch of a “What's Your Bottle Karma?” campaign. Raising community awareness about the issues of glass recovery - and the solution - were the key to reversing the current trend.

It now seems that Fort Collins and Loveland are only the beginning of the Northern Colorado glass separation campaign. Colorado State University is now asking off-campus students “what's the bottle Karma of your home?” and local breweries such as New Belgium Brewery Company are investigating ways they can help support the program.

Cooperation between Loveland, Fort Collins, Larimer County, local breweries and the University will continue to expand the glass separation campaign and promote community participation, resulting in the recovery of even more glass in Northern Colorado. These communities and partners see this program as just the beginning to improve their bottle Karma.