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The environment desk at Aspen Public Radio covers issues in the Roaring Fork Valley and throughout the state of Colorado including water use and quality, impact of recreation, population growth and oil and gas development. APR’s Environment Reporter is Elizabeth Stewart-Severy.

Aspen expert talks trash on state level

Courtesy of Liz O'Connell Chapman

Liz Chapman from the Aspen environmental health department has been appointed to a state commission that regulates trash and hazardous waste.

Chapman and others on the Colorado Solid and Hazardous Waste Commission make the rules for safely disposing trash. She said it’s important work.

“You throw your stuff in the trash can, it goes away, and you don’t think much more about it after that,” Chapman said. “Well, that’s possible because of the work that everyone’s doing behind the scenes to make sure that those facilities are run in a way that protects the environment.”

Chapman brings real-world experience from her work to create local policy, including recent efforts to divert more construction and demolition waste from the Pitkin County Landfill.

In August, consultants on that project will present to city council on potential solutions for how to reduce trash. Ideas include financial penalties for throwing away construction material, and building a new sorting facility to help repurpose or recycle more.

Aspen native Elizabeth Stewart-Severy is excited to be making a return to both the Red Brick, where she attended kindergarten, and the field of journalism. She has spent her entire life playing in the mountains and rivers around Aspen, and is thrilled to be reporting about all things environmental in this special place. She attended the University of Colorado with a Boettcher Scholarship, and graduated as the top student from the School of Journalism in 2006. Her lifelong love of hockey lead to a stint working for the Colorado Avalanche, and she still plays in local leagues and coaches the Aspen Junior Hockey U-19 girls.
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