Media Contact: Marti Matsch, Eco-Cycle Deputy Director, 303-419-4676
“CAN I RECYCLE THIS?”
Now there’s an app for that in Boulder County!
Introducing the Eco-Cycle A-Z Recycling Guide App, available now on the Apple App Store and Google Play
Boulder County, Colo. (April 19, 2019) – How many times have you stood before a recycling bin, an item in hand, and wondered, “Can I recycle this?” Well now there’s an app for that.
In celebration of Earth Day, Eco-Cycle announces a new tool to help people living and working in Boulder County know what to do with hundreds of discarded items -- everything from appliances and apple cores to zippers and zip disks. The Eco-Cycle A-Z Recycling Guide is an app customized for recycling, composting, hard-to-recycle services, facilities and businesses in Boulder County.
Residents can look up an item in seconds to find out if it is locally recyclable, compostable, reusable, or trash. The app will also tell you where it is accepted ─ in curbside recycle or compost bins in your Boulder County community, at facilities including the Eco-Cycle/City of Boulder Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials (the CHaRM), the Boulder County Household Hazardous Waste Facility, Resource Central, or a local program or business that may reuse or recycle the item.
Eco-Cycle Deputy Director Marti Matsch said the aim of the A-Z mobile app is to take the guesswork out of figuring out whether an item can be recovered from the landfill. “People know it’s important to recycle, compost and reuse, and they want to do the right thing, but it can be difficult to know what goes where. And there are many local programs, facilities and businesses accepting so many types of odd items--like binoculars, yoga mats, crayons, or mattresses--that are great resources, but perhaps not well-known. If there’s a place to take an item in Boulder County--whether it’s Eco-Cycle or someone else--it’s in the app.”
You can also use the Eco-Cycle A-Z Recycling guide on the Eco-Cycle website at www.ecocycle.org. While you’re there, test your recycling knowledge by playing the Eco-Cycle Zero Waste Sorting Game.
TEST YOUR ZERO WASTE KNOWLEDGE WITH ECO-CYCLE’S NEW ONLINE ZERO WASTE GAME!
In tandem with the A-Z app, Eco-Cycle is launching a second tool to help residents learn more about what goes where by playing an online sorting game. Are egg cartons recyclable? Where can you take yoga mats for recycling? What do you do with old paint? The Eco-Cycle Sorting Game tests your Zero Waste know-how. Five challenge levels will ask you to sort various items according to whether they go in recycling, compost, trash, OR to the Boulder County Hazardous Materials Management Facility or the Eco-Cycle/City of Boulder CHaRM. If you’ve chosen incorrectly, the game will give you multiple chances to get it right, so you can learn while you play. The game is fun for all ages, and a great new tool to learn how to recycle and compost locally.