How Recycling Works: From Your Bin to a New Beginning

Recycling is more than just putting bottles, cans, and paper into a blue cart. It is a multi-step process that turns yesterday’s waste into tomorrow’s resources. At Apex Waste Solutions, we are proud to provide recycling services to communities across Colorado, helping keep valuable materials out of landfills and supporting a cleaner, more sustainable future.

In this guide, we will walk through exactly how recycling works, step by step, so you can see what happens after collection and learn how to make your recycling count.

Why Recycling Matters in Colorado

Colorado’s diverse landscapes, from the mountains to the plains, make it a beautiful place to live, but they also present unique challenges for waste management. Recycling reduces landfill use, conserves resources, and helps lower greenhouse gas emissions. It also supports local jobs and businesses in the recycling and manufacturing industries.

By recycling correctly, you are:

• Conserving natural resources like wood, water, and minerals
• Reducing pollution caused by extracting and processing raw materials
• Saving energy since making new products from recycled materials often takes far less energy than using virgin materials
• Supporting a circular economy where products are reused, remanufactured, and recycled instead of being discarded

Step 1: Collection at the Curb

The recycling journey begins at your home or business. In Colorado, Apex Waste Solutions provides curbside recycling services for both residential and commercial customers.

Here is how to set yourself up for success:

• Use the correct cart: Your 95-gallon recycling cart should be clearly marked with a blue lid or recycling sticker
• Keep items loose: Never bag your recyclables since plastic bags can jam machinery at the facility
• Follow local guidelines: Accepted items can vary slightly by location, so always check your city or county’s recycling rules
• Prepare materials: Empty, clean, and dry your containers before putting them in the cart to prevent contamination

Once everything is ready, place your cart curbside before 7:00 a.m. on your collection day. Our trucks use automated arms to lift, empty, and return the cart, making the process quick, safe, and efficient.

Step 2: Transportation to a Recycling Facility

After collection, your recyclables are transported to a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). In Colorado, these facilities can be close to home in some urban areas, while in mountain communities they may be farther away. This increases transportation costs and emphasizes the importance of clean loads to keep recycling efficient.

At the MRF, your materials are unloaded onto the tipping floor, where they begin the sorting process.

Step 3: Sorting the Materials

Sorting is one of the most important stages in recycling. Different materials require different processing, and contamination can cause entire loads to be sent to the landfill.

How sorting works:

1. Pre-sorting: Workers remove items that should not be in the load, like plastic bags, hoses, or large pieces of scrap metal
2. Mechanical separation: Machines separate items by size, weight, and type of material
3. Screens and conveyors: Large spinning screens help separate paper from heavier containers
4. Magnets and eddy currents: Magnets pull out steel cans, while eddy currents separate aluminum
5. Optical sorters: Sensors identify plastics by type and use air jets to direct them into the right bins
6. Glass processing: Glass is often crushed and separated by color for recycling into new bottles or construction materials

The cleaner and more accurately sorted the materials, the higher their value and the better the chance they will be successfully recycled.

Step 4: Processing and Baling

Once sorted, materials are compacted into large, dense bales. These bales are easier to store and transport to manufacturers. Each material type such as cardboard, paper, plastics, metals, and glass is baled separately.

For example:

• Cardboard bales can be sent to paper mills to make new boxes
• Aluminum bales go to smelters where they are melted down for new cans
• Plastic bales are shipped to processors who wash, shred, and melt them into pellets for new products

Step 5: Selling to Manufacturers

The final step before recycling becomes recycled is selling these bales to companies that turn them into new products. This is where market demand plays a big role. If demand for a material is low, it can be harder to find a buyer, and in some cases, the material might end up in a landfill despite being collected for recycling.

That is why it is so important to only recycle items that your local facility accepts. It helps keep contamination low and ensures there is a market for the materials.

Step 6: Turning Old into New

Here is where the transformation happens. Your recyclables are turned into something new:

• Paper and cardboard become new boxes, paper products, or even building insulation
• Aluminum cans are recycled into new cans and can be back on store shelves in as little as 60 days
• Plastic bottles can be made into clothing, carpeting, or new containers
• Glass can be endlessly recycled into new bottles or jars without losing quality

What You Can Do to Improve Recycling

Even the most advanced recycling system cannot work without the community’s help. Here are a few ways you can make a big difference:

• Know your local rules: Recycling guidelines can vary from Denver to Eagle County, so always check before you toss
• Avoid wishcycling: If you are not sure whether something is recyclable, it is better to leave it out than risk contaminating the load
• Rinse containers: Food residue can ruin paper and cardboard or cause mold in stored materials
• Keep it loose: Never bag recyclables, and keep items free of tanglers like cords and hoses
• Flatten cardboard: This saves space in your cart and makes sorting easier

Recycling Challenges in Colorado

While recycling is effective, there are some challenges unique to Colorado:

• Geography: Mountain towns may be far from processing facilities, making transportation costly
• Contamination rates: Items like plastic bags, greasy pizza boxes, and yard debris can cause problems in the sorting process
• Market fluctuations: The value of recyclables depends on supply and demand, which can change over time

Apex Waste Solutions works hard to overcome these challenges by investing in education, offering clear guidelines, and partnering with reliable processing facilities.

The Future of Recycling

The recycling industry is constantly evolving. New technologies, like improved optical sorters and AI-assisted sorting, are making it easier to separate materials and reduce contamination. At the same time, companies are designing products with recycling in mind, using fewer mixed materials and more easily recyclable components.

In Colorado, communities are also exploring expanded recycling programs to include more plastics, organics composting, and textile recovery. Apex Waste Solutions stays ahead of the curve to ensure our customers benefit from these innovations.

Key Takeaways

• Recycling turns used materials into valuable resources, reducing the need for virgin materials and saving energy
• The process includes collection, transportation, sorting, baling, selling to manufacturers, and creating new products
• Clean, properly sorted recyclables have a higher chance of being successfully recycled
• Following your local recycling guidelines is the best way to support the system
• Apex Waste Solutions is committed to providing reliable recycling services and education to communities across Colorado

Final Word:
Recycling is a team effort. From the moment you place an item in your cart to when it is transformed into something new, every step matters. By knowing how recycling works and doing your part to keep materials clean and sorted, you help make the process more efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally beneficial.

At Apex Waste Solutions, we are proud to work alongside Colorado residents and businesses to build a greener, cleaner future, one cart at a time.