CNN news 2012-02-18 加文本

cnn news 2012-02-18

AZUZ: According to government estimates, Americans produced about 250 million tons of garbage in 2010. Now, of course, recycling can help cut down on the amount of trash we produce. But that`s not enough for one Colorado city. Officials there don`t just want to decrease the amount of trash, they want to do away with it entirely. Reynolds Wolf shows us how businesses are sorting it all out.

REYNOLDS WOLF, cnn REPORTER (voice-over): Steamboat Springs, Colorado, home of amazing views, snow-capped peaks, stunning treelines and mountains of -- garbage?

Believe it or not, the connection between these snowy heights, this mound of trash and these overflowing lunch trays are closer than you might think. You see, about three years ago, Steamboat Springs set an ambitious goal. They wanted to eliminate all garbage. They`d recycle or reuse everything. The goal: to be 100 percent waste-free by 2014.

Here`s how it works. Restaurants and town events should use only recycled products. That means that cups, plates and eating utensils have to be compostable or made from recycled goods. Even trash cans are sealed, so customers can`t throw anything away. They have people who do it for you.

WOLF: When a tray comes up to your station, what`s your job? What are you doing?

CHRIS JIGGENS, STEAMBOAT TRASH ATTENDANT: We take a soda bottle out. We take any plastic wrappers out, and the plastic wrappers go in the garbage. The soda goes in recycling. Anything left, food or the bioplastic that`s left, we put in our compost bin.

WOLF (voice-over): Yep. These guys sort through Steamboat`s trash, making sure the right items get to the right places.

WOLF: And to show us how it`s done, we`ve got Jesse Rights (ph) with us. Jesse, I`ve got this plate that came up. It is a full one. Oh, wow. OK, how do I get started? You tell me what to do with this.

JESSE RAIKES, STEAMBOAT TRASH ATTENDANT: Yes, this is quite a typical plate right here. This is what you`d see on a normal basis.

First, we`re going to start with the trash. So we can`t recycle anything like this.

WOLF: All right.

RAIKES: Tinfoil wrappers -- so we`re going to take these and we`re going to go straight to the waste with that. (Inaudible).

(CROSSTALK)

WOLF: What about these guys, the paper?

RAIKES: This is completely compostable --

WOLF: So that goes in --

RAIKES: -- follow me. We`re going to go in the compost bin right here.

WOLF: And what about this stuff, like plastic?

RAIKES: This is actually compostable, too, as well.

WOLF (voice-over): At the end of the day, all those leftovers come here, the Twin Enviro Composting Facility, just outside of town, where trash disintegrates into dirt. Every year, they turn more than 175 tons of food scraps and other compostable waste into 400 tons of fertile soil, which goes right back to the mountains of Steamboat Springs.

WOLF: Jesse, when you look at all this stuff, I mean, some people would see it and just say, all this goes in the trash, but a little different when you look at it, huh?

RAIKES: You know, when I look at it, I see a big garden of dirt right here. And we can use that. We can bring it in. We can make a, you know, a ramp for our wintertime festivities, or we can get a biking trail started with this.

WOLF: This is, one day, possibly plant food --

RAIKES: Exactly.

WOLF: Unreal.

RAIKES: That`s a playground right there.

WOLF (voice-over): Steamboat already cut its waste by at least 70 percent. They think that with a little guidance any city in any country could do just as well.

JIGGENS: People are on vacation, so they`re -- you know, they`re here for fun. And then when they see something like that, and it interests them, they can bring it home to where they`re at. I think any bit helps. And if Steamboat brings that to the nation and the world, then that`s a good thing.

WOLF (voice-over): Reynolds Wolf, cnn, Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

AZUZ: You fans of our puns are going to love this next story. Those of you who don`t like them are just going to have to suffer through it.

Before we go, we`re going to check out some barnyard harmonizing.

AZUZ (voice-over): A donkey singing, and that might be the best you can hope for when your duet partner is a donkey.

The woman who posted this video on YouTube said she just wanted to play some music for the animals on her farm. The donkey wasn`t content to be in the audience, though. He wanted to be in on the act.

Might not have had perfect pitch --

AZUZ: -- but if you`re going to sing in the wrong key, try not to "B flat." We`d say the donkey and his fiddle-playing partner killed it on that song, but we don`t want to promote "violins." Maybe he should recruit some of his farmyard friends for the next "corral" concert.

We definitely take note of that and be sure to tune in. The puns are coming at a fever pitch. We`d go for more, but we`re going to hold "fermata" solid seven. That last one was for you band members. Hope you got it. Enjoy the rest of your day. For cnn Student News, I`m Carl Azuz.