By Lyndsie Ferrell
CREEDE— MDS Waste and Recycle is making headway throughout the entire Valley as the small mountain business based in Creede continues to grow— offering curb side recycling and waste services in Creede, South Fork, Del Norte and Monte Vista.
In addition to their basic services, the business is also doing work in the Creede and Del Norte School districts, not only offering free recycling services, but helping to create recycling clubs that maintain the recycling in the school and help to educate students on the process of recycling and how it positively affects their everyday lives.
On May 6, 12 students, six from Creede and six from Del Norte traveled to Denver with MDS owners Jon and Melissa Graham to learn about the full process of recycling. The trip started out with something fun for the students to do before they dove in to the recycling world the following day. “We took them to a gaming facility where they were able to enjoy themselves before the long day ahead. It was a really great time,” said Graham.
On May 7, the group ventured into one of the nation’s largest recycling facilities of its kind for single stream recycling, Alpine Waste and Recycling. “The students are responsible for collecting, sorting and removing any contaminants from the recycling at their schools and we wanted the opportunity to show them where their efforts end up. Alpine is a state-of-the-art recycling facility that uses a combination of manual machines and robotic technology to sort and process the recyclable material. It can identify contaminated material as well as identify possible recyclable material that previously hasn’t been recycled. It was a really amazing process to watch,” said Graham.
Next the group went further north to Momentum Glass to watch the process of recycling glass products that are later transferred to another facility called Owens-Illinois which is one of the world’s leading glass bottle manufacturers that uses recycled glass to make millions of amber glass bottles per day. “They are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year to make bottles out of recycled glass. This was the first time we have had the opportunity to visit this plant, and it was really neat to be able to show the full recycling circle to the students,” said Graham.
“Students had the opportunity to see where the recycling material they collect in school ends up on the far end as a new glass bottle. It is an opportunity other schools can participate in. We would love to branch out and include other districts. They only need to contact us,” finished Graham.
For more information or to watch comprehensive videos of the tour and of tours from the previous year, visit either www.mdswasteandrecycle.com or visit them on Facebook at mdswasteandrecycle.