CHaRM

Environmental Issue: Hazardous materials in landfills

Pretty much anything you wouldn’t want a child to put in their mouth is hazardous. Tests have consistently shown that ground water is being polluted at an alarming rate due to toxins leaking into the water supply. Until recently most people and cities have just buried their hazardous materials.

Environmental Benefit: By not dumping electronics, Styrofoam, solvents and other materials directly into landfills many of the hazardous material can be isolated, recycled and repurposed thus preventing ground water contamination and conserving vital landfill space. You may not have heard of CHaRM before; however, this local program is recognized internationally as the Gold Standard for how to divert hazardous materials from landfills.

Other Benefits: By recycling materials – even hard-to-recycle materials – less energy is consumed in the production of the final goods. This not only reduces carbon emissions but it limits damage of vital natural resources by reducing the need to extract new raw materials.

Cost and complexities: If you don’t live in a city that supports this type of recycling it will be difficult to divert this type of trash from landfills, but see other tools for ideas and options. There is a nominal cost to handle this type of waste because unlike “normal” recycling the collection facility isn’t able to sell these items but rather has to pay to have them recycled and remanufactured.

Implementation Plan:

1. Familiarize yourself with what CHaRM will accept. As an objective they add at least one new item to its list each year. Some materials are free. Some materials have a small fee.
2. Designate a person to be responsible for addressing odd items that are hard to recycle.
3. Train key personnel such as shipping clerks, receptionists and anyone else who is responsible for unpacking and purchasing what materials are accepted.
4. Create an area in the office where CHaRM materials can be stored for monthly drop-off.
5. Create a petty cash account to keep the internal process simple to pay for hard-to-recycle items with associated fees.
6. Create a schedule for delivering materials to CHARM (often monthly makes sense.) In many cases employees will volunteer for this assignment and the task can easily occur on your way home or to lunch.

Where to Purchase: 5880 Butte Mill Rd Boulder Colorado

Payment is due at time of drop off.