In an effort to make Durango cleaner, Durango School District (DSD) has implemented film plastic recycling across the schools. Film plastics can not normally be recycled in household trashcans and include materials such as bread and cereal bags, bubble wrap, and resealable plastic bags, according to an article on the Cornell Cooperative Extension website.
This program has been in place since May 2025, said District Sustainability Coordinator Ron Reed in an email. The school district works with 4CORE, a local sustainability company, and the Circular Transportation Network (CTN), which, according to the Circular Colorado website, “is a collaboration between the Circular Economy Development Center (CEDC), Colorado-based businesses, and local communities dedicated to increasing the collection of recyclable materials that currently are not being recycled.”
Together with 4CORE and the CTN, DSD staff, students and families, as well as other community members can drop off their clean film plastics, labeled 2 HDPE and 4 LDPE, in green bins located in schools as well as at the DSD admin building (281 Sawyer Drive) and, after January 1st, to the new Facilities Building located at 28745 Highway 160.
But while other recycled goods like paper get turned back into products like cardboard boxes, toilet paper, and paper packaging, according to the American Forest and Paper Association’s website, the same thing can’t be done with plastic.
Most of the time, these types of plastic are thrown away and end up in landfills, where they aren’t easily broken down. Reed emphasized the importance of this program, saying, “When you look at all of the types of items that are included in this program it is unbelievable. Finding a way to reuse or recycle as much as we can is very important.”
With this program, the film plastics that are collected are transported to a facility in Pueblo, where they are shredded and added to asphalt for roads. “The plastic is helping increase the hardness and the longevity of the blacktop,” said Reed. According to the release from DSD, this program is “strengthening Colorado roads while keeping plastics out of landfills.”
While keeping plastic out of landfills is a very important part of the sustainability of this initiative, there is also another aspect. According to Reed, the plastic is picked up by “ big delivery trucks that come to Durango [and] leave with empty trailers. Part of the program was to help fill the trucks on the way back so they are not running empty.”
Since the program started last May, Reed has seen “staff and parents who have helped bring plastic to the schools,” and after the article written in the Durango Herald on November 7, 2025, highlighted this program, Reed has seen “community members bring plastic to us as part of this program.”
In addition to this program, there have been other recent sustainability initiatives in the schools. These include the Bulk Milk initiative in elementary schools, which swaps single use cartons for self serve dispensers, as well as battery recycling and lights off days at DHS, put on by the DHS Green Team.
