Where does it all go?

Eco-Products Employees Visit Boulder County Disposal Sites
Just because our products eventually leave our warehouses to be enjoyed by others doesn’t mean we stop caring about them after they leave our possession. In fact, we are very interested in every lifecycle stage of our products. At our products’ beginning-of-life, we are committed to using renewable resources (like corn and sugarcane) and post-consumer content (like old CD cases). Regarding product end-of-life, we are committed to waste diversion and helping our customers achieve zero waste. What does this mean? It means sending as little stuff to the landfill as possible and maximizing what gets sent to commercial composters and recyclers (in the few communities that recycle used foodservice packaging).

To learn more about where our products end up, a group of Eco-Products employees recently toured all three potential end-of-life destinations for our products: a commercial composter, a recycling facility, and a landfill. At Western Disposal’s compost facility in Boulder, we saw the process of turning our GreenStripe^® products into healthy, brown soil amendment. The process at this facility usually takes about five months, after which landscapers, farmers, and residents alike can buy compost for their landscaping, agricultural, and gardening needs.At the Boulder County Recycling Center, we witnessed the complex process of sorting involved in a single-stream recycling operation. This developed our understanding of the challenges associated with separating food-contaminated packaging and finding reliable buyers of such material.
Finally, at the Front Range Landfill in Erie, we were amazed at the scale of waste generation in our community. While this facility captures methane coming off the landfill to generate electricity, we still left feeling even more passionate about our commitment to zero waste.

At Eco-Products, we are dedicated to reducing the environmental impact of disposables. We believe this entails taking responsibility for every aspect of our products, and we will continue to educate ourselves on these important issues. If you have any questions about waste diversion or the environmental impacts of our products, you may contact our Sustainability Maven at sustainabilitymaven@ecoproducts.com