Sustainable Ways Inc.

06/24/2018

Here's a photo of Dave Ahrens' ongoing AirCrete home construction.

06/24/2018

AIRCRETE CONSTRUCTION

I talked with Dave Ahrens who is working on an AirCrete Quonset style home this coming week in Centennial Ranch. Sounds like an interesting technique. See Dave's email below and call him at 860-823-9177 if you would like to hear more or perhaps give him a "learning hand" for a few hours.

Hi All,

Beth and I (Dave) are building an AirCrete Quonset style home and are making the AirCrete blocks from scratch. We are looking for volunteers who would like to learn this building technique to help us make and stack blocks to form the arch roof that sits on 40 inch high rider walls. The radius of the arch is 8 feet and the blocks we are making are 1 foot by 2 foot by 6 inches. We will only be working from now until Friday June 29th. We are about 10 miles south of Westcliffe on route 69.

AirCrete is fireproof, insect proof and unharmed by moisture - it will not rot or decay. It offers good thermal and acoustic insulation. Unlike concrete which is hard, heavy, cold and difficult to work with; AirCrete is easy to work with. It hardens overnight and can be cut, carved, drilled and shaped with wood-working tools. It accepts nails, screws and is easily repaired. It continues to harden over time and makes excellent foundations, subfloors, building blocks, walls, domes arches or whatever. It can be molded or formed into practically any shape.
AirCrete has good compressive strength. And like concrete, Aircrete has very little tensile strength and requires reinforcement for some applications.

We learned this technique at a Wokshop given by www.domegaia.com

What to bring: old cloths that will get cement on them, work boots, a hat, sunglasses.

If you are interested in learning this building technique and lending a hand, please call Dave at 860-823-9177

Thanks,
Dave & Beth

04/19/2018

It’s that time of year again! The mobile shredder will be returning on Friday, May 11th from 10-1 in the West parking lot of the school. This is a great way to get rid of old or unwanted documents in a safe way!

09/13/2017

The Valley Strong dinner is Wed Sep 20 and help is needed for a variety of things. There will be recyclable barrels grouped in threes next to a trash can. The barrels (lined with plastic bags) will be placed along Main Street going west, starting in the middle of 2nd street. Each group of three will have one barrel for glass bottles, one for plastic bottles and one for aluminum cans.

We are sending out a call for volunteers and would appreciate you spreading the word, especially those that are going to be there anyway.

Volunteers are needed to:
Pick up barrels at the landfill on the 19th and 20th and drop them off by the caboose on Main Street.

Set up barrels in groups of three along each side of main street next to a trash can (the lids will be labeled)

Pull the bags from the barrels right after the event that evening

Recycle the glass and aluminum in one of the recycling bins in Westcliffe, Silver Cliff or at the landfill

Transfer the plastic bottles to a High Altitude Fitness recycling bag which will be provided.

Transport the barrels back to the landfill

Please let us know if you can help!!!

05/26/2017

High Country Recycling - SW thanks everyone who dropped off their boxes and bags of paper during the recent Mobile Record Shredders Event. We send a special thank you to volunteers Dakota Schoch, Lauren Kitchen, Destiny Demaio, David Wicks, Annie Meo Mike Liebman, and Lisa Kaufman. We couldn't done it without them. Two and a half tons of paper was shredded during the three hours and was then transported for recycling and remanufacturing into Fiberboard. An additional bale of cardboard was collected for recycling and remanufacturing into new paper and cardboard.

HCR is now needing your help to perform a 4 hour Waste Audit scheduled for the afternoon of June 9th at the Landfill.
The Upper Arkansas Area Council of Government Recycling Program will be supervising and tallying data for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Please contact Joanie Liebman at [email protected] or call 719-371-0005 or contact Dennis Sprecher at the Landfill's Waste Minimization Center (719) 783-2726.

Thanks for recycling. We all benefit.

03/27/2017

This year's Mobile Record Shredders 'monster' truck will be at the west side parking lot of the school district on Main Street in Westcliffe, CO on Friday May 12th from 10am to 1pm.

The following paper will be accepted: copy, notebook, ledger, green bar, sketch and carbonless carbon paper, checkbook, file folders of all kinds, magazines, catalogues, envelopes (including the plastic window).

There’s no need to remove staples, paper or springs clips or rubber bands. Please remove your documents from three ring binders. Volunteers will be on hand to unload your vehicle and a receipt will be provided upon request. All unwanted boxes are recycled locally and all shredded paper is recycled through Mobile Record Shredders.

As always we appreciate a cash donation of your choosing with $5 suggested per box load. Sustainable Ways-High Country Recycling is a non-profit organization and your donation is tax deductible and will help defray our costs for providing this service.

Mobile Record Shredders is a locally owned Pueblo based business. They are AAA Certified by the National Association for Information Destruction and is a member in good standing with the Better Business Bureau. They are used by state and federal government agencies, numerous banks, law enforcement agencies, health care organizations plus many other businesses and nonprofits.

Please email [email protected] or call Joanie Liebman 719-371-0005 if you have any questions or would like to help.

10/17/2014

Team Earth!

10/16/2014

Our world is fixated on praising excess. We are not the first society to worship conspicuous consumption, but we do continue the practice. But we are making a mistake.

09/08/2014

"Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do." ~ Wendell Berry
Revering the Universe. Caring for Nature. Celebrating Life.
Join the World Pantheist Movement!
www.pantheism.net
http://www.facebook.com/Pantheism
www.facebook.com/groups/2230619808
WPM Gatherings: http://facebook.com/groups/worldpantheistgatherings/
WPM Networking: http://community.pantheism.net/
Thanks to Marco Pucci for sharing this photo/quote with us!

08/26/2014

Yes, please!

08/19/2014

Smart

Great news! Please share!

05/16/2014

Wow! All I was looking for was the great taste of a homegrown tomato. Who would've thunk?