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Alpine celebrates America Recycles Day with ‘foam’ contest
Bring that ‘verboten’ material to the Altogether Recycling Plant
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (Nov. 5, 2015) ̶ Alpine Waste & Recycling is celebrating this
year’s America Recycles Day by encouraging Denver-area residents to bring the biggest
quantities of polystyrene foam to Alpine’s Altogether Recycling Plant.
The individual who deposits the most foam on Nov. 16 will receive two weeks’ worth of takeout
lunches at El Jardine Restaurant, 6460 E. 73rd Ave. in Commerce City. Go ahead, use their
Styrofoam™ containers, save ‘em up, and use the collection as an excuse to come visit the
recycling plant a second time.
Alpine recently became the only recycling company in Colorado to solicit expanded polystyrene
foam in a single-stream recycling process, and Alpine hopes to put its new densifying machine to
the test. Alpine is encouraging people in the Denver area to collect as much foam as possible by
America Recycles Day, which is Nov. 15, then bring it to the Altogether plant at 645 W. 53rd
Place in Denver the next day for drop-off.
The winning foam collector will be determined by 5 p.m. Nov. 16, and he or she will receive a
gift card to El Jardin that will cover the equivalent of 14 entrees.
For decades, the material commonly known under its trademarked commercial moniker of
Styrofoam has confounded recyclers who have wrestled with its lightweight, space-consuming
composition. Thanks to a $45,000 grant from the Foodservice Packaging Institute and thanks to
new technology, Alpine Waste now has a machine in place that compresses the foam into bricks,
making it more commercially feasible to transport and recycle in bulk.
The foam eligible for recycling includes packaging materials such as egg cartons, meat trays and
“take-home” containers. John Griffith, president of Alpine, said he is thrilled that the company’s
spirit of innovation has led it to this point that it is now possible to recycle this challenging
material.
“We want to keep polystyrene foam out of the landfills, because it takes up a lot of space, and it
can take centuries to degrade,” he said. “It’s far better for the environment to find useful
applications for this material.”
About Alpine Waste & Recycling
Alpine Waste & Recycling is the largest privately held commercial waste, recycling and compost
collection company in Colorado. Founded in 1999 as a single-truck operation, Alpine Waste is
now among the Denver Business Journal’s Top 100 private companies in the Denver area. With
more than 90 trucks and more than 200 employees, Alpine handles 400,000-plus tons of waste,
compost and recycle products per year. In 2009, the Colorado Association for Recycling named
Alpine as the state’s most outstanding business for its recycling/diversion program (Altogether
Recycling™). In 2008 and 2012, ColoradoBiz Magazine named Alpine as the state’s Top
Company (Service Category) and Top Company Finalist, respectively; and in 2010 named
Alpine as a “Colorado Company to Watch.” Commerce City named Alpine as its 2010 Small
Business of the Year; and the Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce named Alpine in 2011 as a
Finalist for the Green Company of the Year Award. In 2013, Alpine was named as the recipient
of the ACG’s Emerging Growth Award. Information: 303-744-9881, or go to
www.alpinewaste.com.