Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — A community recycling event Saturday offers Routt County residents one last chance to clean out their garages before winter takes hold in the Yampa Valley.

The Yampa Valley Sustainability Council and Yampa Valley Recycles are hosting the semiannual event from 9 a.m. to noon at Howelsen Hill.

Emilie Rogers, an administrator with Yampa Valley Recycles, said more than 400 people showed up for each of the past two events.

“We’re hoping by offering this service once again the community will take advantage of the one-stop recycling drop-off event,” Rogers said.

Items that will be accepted include single-steam recyclables, yard waste, building materials, scrap metal, electronics, appliances, car batteries, skis, bikes, wine corks, shoes, printer cartridges, children’s books, plastic bags, compact fluorescent light bulbs, fluorescent tube light bulbs and more.

The event is free, though some items including appliances with Freon, some electronics, latex and oil-based paint, and motor oil will require a fee.

For a complete list of accepted items and fees, visit www.yvsc.org/events-news/america-recycles-day.

Commercial drop-offs will not be accepted with the exception of paint. The fee for latex paint is $1 per gallon over 10 gallons, and oil-based paint and stain is $5 per gallon over 10 gallons.

Interested businesses must call the Routt County Environmental Health Department at 970-870-5588 by today.

Rogers said cash donations will help the free event continue to grow. The next community recycling event will be held in the spring.

Accepted materials

■ Free to recycle:

Appliances, working

Bikes, bike tires and tubes

Books for children, gently used

Building materials

Car batteries, no alkaline

Clothing and fabric not suitable for reuse, must be at least 1 square foot in size

Compact fluorescent light bulbs

Fluorescent tube light bulbs, no tubes longer than 6 feet

Laptops

Pharmaceuticals

Phone books

Phones

Plastic bags

Printer cartridges

Scrap metal

Shoes, gently used

Single-stream recyclables

Skis

Wine corks, natural only

Wrappers for candy bars, chip bags, energy bars, cookies, juice pouches, coffee bags

Yard waste including grass, sticks, leaves, garden cuttings and branches up to 6 feet in length and 12 inches in diameter

Ziploc brand bags and plastic containers

■ Fee to recycle:

$10: Electronics, including VCR and DVD players, stereos, alarm clocks, desktop fax machines, scanners, printers, desktop computers, mice and keyboards

$75: Freon removal from non-working appliances

$15: Computer monitors

$1 per gallon (over 10 gallons): Oil (cooking and motor), latex paint

paint, latex

$5 per gallon (over 10 gallons): Paint and stain, oil-based

$45: TVs, console or projection

$20: TVs, tabletop

— To reach Nicole Miller, call 970-871-4246 or email nmiller@SteamboatToday.com