C4 Program Collects Thousands of Pounds of Waste
The Leadville Herald recently reported on C4’s Zero Waste program and partnership with the Leadville Race Series. Read more below!
C4 program collects thousands of pounds of waste
Finn McNally for the Leadville Herald
Oct 21, 2024
Cloud City Conservation Center’s (C4) Zero Waste initiative has collected over 30,000 pounds of waste so far in 2024. From the 2024 Leadville Race Series alone, the initiative collected 15,300 pounds of waste, 75 percent of which was diverted away from the Lake County Landfill.
C4 started the Zero Waste program in 2013 in partnership with the Leadville Race Series, and for the past two years the initiative has also included Boom Days. Zero Waste collected 13,600 pounds of waste from Boom Days in 2024. Additionally, C4 rents out the program’s equipment for other community events about half a dozen times a year.
C4’s Zero Waste program starts with waste stations that have three different receptacles, one for composting, one for recycling and one for trash. During the race series there is a fourth station called terracycle which is for nutrition wrappers from products like energy gels. Waste stations are manned by volunteers or paid staff who tell people which receptacle their waste should go in. Emily Olsen, C4’s executive director, said that the initiative has increased its number of volunteers over the last couple years in an effort to increase the amount of waste that’s diverted from the landfill.
At the end of an event, C4 takes what they’ve collected and sends each waste category to the appropriate location. Un-recyclable waste is sent to the Lake County Landfill. Recyclable waste is sent to a company called Apex Waste Solutions, who’s recycling center in Parker sorts the waste by materials like aluminum and plastic so that C4’s staff doesn’t have to. Compost waste is picked up by Elements Compost, who brings it to their facility in Salida. Some of the compost soil produced there is purchased by C4 to be used at the Cloud City Farm. Finally, the nutrition wrappers are sent to a New Jersey company called Terracycle that specializes in turning non-recyclable waste into raw materials.
Although the waste stations are heavily used, not all waste makes it into a bin. During and after events like Boom Days, C4 volunteers and staff will walk around the event area picking up trash and delivering it to a waste station. During races, the Leadville Race Series is responsible for waste along the course and they bring the waste they find to C4.
Tamira Jenlink, the event manager for the Leadville Race Series, said that the waste management surrounding the races has improved and that racers and spectators have been receptive to the zero waste efforts.
“I think you’ve got a small group who is doing an amazing job, C4 is just killing it. I am very appreciative of our partnership together and that we are growing and learning together about how to manage so many humans at one time,” Jenlink said.
Olsen said that C4 intends to continue to improve their Zero Waste initiative and increase the amount of waste that can be recycled, composted or terracycled rather than sent to the landfill.
“Waste is often the last thing that people think about, and what’s really unique about taking a zero waste approach to an event is that we actually try to make it the first thing that people think about,” Olsen said. “We would really love to see our community as a whole strive to divert as much waste from our landfill as possible.”
See the original article on the Herald’s website: https://www.leadvilleherald.com/news/article_00a2f972-8ca0-11ef-9fda-e3e05e716d24.html
