University of Colorado researchers found an emission-free way to turn end-of-life plastics into resins used commonly in the electronic, automobile and aerospace industries
plastics
Posted inOpinion Columns
Opinion: Instead of banning plastic bags, let’s invest in making plastic bags biodegradable
Paper bags have higher environmental costs than plastic.
Posted inEnvironment
Microplastics are seemingly everywhere — including Colorado’s snowpack
Samples from Colorado’s mountains find growing rate of shredded plastic fibers.
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Nothing we use for a few minutes should harm our environment for hundreds of years
We’re using and producing more plastics than ever. In fact, Coloradans throw away an estimated 1,155,000 tons of plastics every year — over 6.3 million pounds per day. Just think about that cup that you hurriedly drank your morning coffee from and then threw away. It may be out of your hands, but it will […]
Posted inCOVID, Energy, Environment, News, Politics and Government
Coronavirus has led to a boom in single-use plastics. NREL is launching a new effort to upcycle them.
GOLDEN — In the coronavirus era, where germs present a deadly risk, people aren’t taking any chances. They’d rather be sterile than sorry. The result has been a boom in single-use plastics — gloves, bottles, packaging — reversing a yearslong trend of trying to reduce waste wherever possible. Demand for flexible packaging is expected to […]
Posted inColoradans, Environment, News
Colorado’s milk-delivery companies are boosting business even as milk consumption declines
John Ramos is a streak across the lawn before the sun comes up, a runner dashing through the dark with a jug of milk in each hand. His record is 75 houses in one hour. There’s really only one way to accomplish this: Ramos, who has delivered milk for Royal Crest Dairy for 22 years, […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, News
Colorado has two years to hit its 28% recycling goal. A new report shows we’re nowhere close.
With all the campaigns and eco-guilt heaped on Coloradans to recycle, the state just released new data showing that we’re still not where we want to be. The state’s recycling rate for 2018 landed at 17.2%, which is below the prior year’s 20.5%. But before anyone gets all judgy, the state’s Department of Public Health […]
Posted inBusiness, Energy, Environment, News
Colorado trash companies invest millions to speed up recycling. Now they just need more people to recycle.
Alpine Waste & Recycling shut down its Denver recycling facility for a month to retrofit the plant with new technology and equipment. When it reopened in the middle of March, the $2.5 million investment proved to be 33 percent faster at sorting paper from cardboard, aluminum cans from yogurt containers and juice cartons from plastic-lined […]
Posted inNews
Why Styrofoam — amid all of Colorado’s recycling struggles — is being targeted for extinction
Styrofoam is the bane of any environmentalist’s leftover lunch. But even as some Colorado cities have tried to ban and food stores — including McDonald’s — have ditched polystyrene foam in favor of more sustainable containers, it hasn’t gone away. It’s time, said Sen. Dominick Moreno, a Democrat in Commerce City who is pushing a […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, News
Forget plastic bans: Mountain towns try volunteerism, bootcamps as solutions to single-use
The sister towns of Telluride and Mountain Village bagged plans to ban plastic straws after learning about an arcane Colorado law preventing municipalities from doing so. But that hasn’t stopped the resort communities from searching for alternatives to single-use plastics — or even recycling. The two towns, separated by a free gondola ride, feel the […]