Monday, June 22, 2015

A Trip to the Recycling Center

We are fortunate to have a good recycling center in our county along with curbside pickup. We have once a week pickup for glass, metal, plastic, paper, and yard waste. However, sometimes we have too much for pickup and we make a trip to the center itself. This is usually for yard waste and that's what we did past Saturday. Every time I go, I am amazed by the scale of the operation and this time was no exception. Below are a few pictures.


Thursday night, we had a bad thunderstorm complete with hail.


Friday when I was out weeding another bed, I noticed a very large tree limb in the neighbors yard that had come from one of our trees during the storm. We borrowed Uncle Billy's truck, and then Ward and I cut up the limb and loaded it into the truck to take to the recycling center.



The center is quite large, but there were good signs to help us find the section we needed.



In the yard waste area, they have different piles depending on what kind of waste you have. One of the employees directed us to the branch pile where we unloaded the truck.


After we unloaded, Ward decided that he wanted to watch some of the big machinery at work.



A bulldozer was loading an extra large chipper. Notice the large pile of chipped material behind the bulldozer and in the picture above.


The mulch is then available for anyone to take and use.



6 comments:

  1. Wow! Our local recycling doesn't do yard waste so we compost--how neat that you can use their center and get free mulch if you want! Win-win!

    Our curbside recycling runs every other week. I wish it either was weekly or that they would give us a bigger bin, but I do love the convenience of the curbside service--I admit I'm much more likely to be compliant with recycling if it's easy to do ... shame on me, I know!

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    1. We compost and do a bit a chipping ourselves as well as pile sticks in one area for wild life habitat. We also put out some yard debris for pick up.. However, there is often more than we can handle. Then we take a trip to the recycling center. It's a very large place. Maybe I'll show another part the next time we go.

      Separate from the recycling center, they have a composting area where they make Leaf Pro. I haven't been there, but I've seen pictures.

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  2. That is so cool. Our recycling is once a month. It looks like we are the only ones who recycle within 2 miles. They're so picky in what they pick up, it is ridiculous and probably seems a waste of time for others.

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    1. As time has gone on, they are picking up more and more things here with less and less sorting. The county really wants compliance. If it ever becomes easier where you live, maybe more will comply. Good for you for putting forth the effort.

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  3. What a wonderful resource! Denver has a free Christmas tree recycling program - they pick up the trees around the first of the year and then give away the mulch at the beginning of May. The only problem with it is that it's just once a year, and if you miss the giveaway day (like, ahem, a certain CatLady did this year) you're then out of luck until the next May. It would be WONDERFUL to have the service available all the time!

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    1. It is a great resource. Now if I can just remember to put out the rhododendron branches we pruned last weekend. We tend to compost the leafy material, but not the woody because it take too long. (Except for the stick pile I mentioned above.)

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