Recycling Center
Overview
The Boulder County Recycling Center prepares recyclable materials for shipment to recycling mills. The facility processes over 60,000 tons a year and has the capacity to process 100,000 tons a year.
Tours and Education
Visitors can see every step of the sorting process. The center offers tours. It also has short videos on saving resources. Visitors can see an outdoor stage. They can walk a viewing path. They can visit a viewing tower too.
- Recycling Center Tours
- Video Library – Resource Conservation
- The center also has an outdoor amphitheater, a viewing walkway, an observation tower, and hands-on educational displays
Single-Stream Processing
The center takes single-stream recycling. This means you can put bottles, cans, and paper in one bin. For safety reasons, the center cannot give recyclables to the public.
Recycling Center Robotics
In 2020, the center added two robots. The robots use artificial intelligence to sort items. They help staff work faster and more safely.
The video below has no dialogue. It has only background music.
Funding
A grant helped pay for the robots. The grant came from the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment’s Recycling Resource Economic Opportunity (RREO) Program. This program supports recycling and jobs in Colorado.
Naming Contest
The public named the robots in a contest. The winners are Sorty McSortface and Sir Sorts-a-Lot.
Technology
AMP Robotics, a company in Louisville, Colorado, built the robots. The robots sort and place items fast. They work with high accuracy.
Environmental Sustainability Features
The center also cares for the land. It uses natural light in its buildings. It uses recycled materials to build with. It reuses roof water to water plants. It cleans water to protect nearby wetlands.
The center ships some items by train instead of truck. This cuts down on truck trips. Each train car removes four trucks from the road.
Accepts Materials From
People and small businesses can drop off recyclable materials at the public drop-off center. It is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Recycling Rebates for Licensed Haulers: local haulers can also get cash back. Haulers pick up recycling from homes. They pick up recycling from drop-off centers. They pick up recycling from business programs. These haulers can get a rebate.
The center does not accept hazardous items, such as latex paint, aerosol cans, or antifreeze. Drop these off at the Hazardous Materials Management Facility, located across the parking lot from the Recycling Center.