Reuse First, Recycle When You Can’t

A simple guide to community recycling at The Refillary

At The Refillary, we’ll almost always encourage you to reuse before you recycle.

Refill the bottle. Reuse the jar. Pass along clothes that still have life left in them.

But when something truly reaches the end of its useful life, recycling can still matter. That’s why we partner with organizations like Ridwell and TerraCycle to help our Parker, Colorado community responsibly handle some of the things curbside recycling can’t.

These partnerships help us offer more hard-to-recycle recycling options, while keeping our focus on what matters most: reducing waste in practical, realistic ways.

Reuse is still the first choice

Recycling is valuable, but it's not always the first step.

If something can be reused, refilled, repaired, donated, or repurposed, that usually keeps it in use longer and avoids unnecessary processing.

That’s why our philosophy is simple:

Reuse what you can. Refill what you can. Recycle what you can’t.

You do not need to live a zero-waste lifestyle to make a difference. Small, repeatable habits still count.

Why community recycling matters

Traditional curbside recycling is limited. Many everyday items are too small, too complex, made from mixed materials, or simply not accepted by municipal programs (without paying for an extra service).

That’s where community recycling programs can help.

Through partners like Ridwell and TerraCycle, certain hard-to-recycle materials can be collected separately and sent to specialized processors rather than automatically going to the landfill.

At The Refillary, that means our customers have a local place in Parker to bring select items that may not belong in a standard curbside bin (and we actually do some of the sorting on the side).

Clean and dry makes a bigger difference than you think

One of the most important things we’ve learned is also one of the simplest:

Clean containers matter.

Many materials are sorted and handled by real people. Food, liquid, oil, and other residue can contaminate materials and make recycling more difficult.

Before bringing items in:

Empty them. Clean them. Let them dry completely.

It may seem like a small extra step, but it helps the entire recycling system work better. Because we also hand sort them in-store to send them to either Ridwell or Terracycle, you're also giving us a huge helping hand.

Don’t “wishcycle”

We understand the instinct to toss something into recycling and hope for the best.

Unfortunately, putting the wrong item into a recycling stream can cause contamination and create extra sorting work.

If you’re not sure whether something belongs in one of our collection programs, ask us before dropping it in.

Our accepted items can change as recycling partners, processors, and programs change, so it’s always a good idea to check our current guidelines.

What happens after you drop something off?

Recycling doesn’t end when an item disappears into a bin.

Collected materials have to be sorted, transported, grouped with similar materials, and sent to processors equipped to handle them.

Different items may go to completely different destinations depending on what they’re made from.

That’s one of the biggest things we’ve learned from working with recycling partners like Ridwell and TerraCycle: there is no single recycling solution for everything.

Some materials have strong recycling pathways. Others are much harder to process.

The goal is to make sure the items we collect are going into the right stream from the beginning.

This is a service The Refillary pays for, for the community

This is something we especially want our community in Parker to understand.

When you’re able to drop off eligible recycling at The Refillary at no charge, the service itself is not free.

The Refillary pays for recycling programs, collection materials, processing, shipping, and other costs so that many of these recycling options can remain accessible to the community.

We believe making local recycling in Parker, Colorado easier helps more people participate.

That’s also why following the guidelines matters so much.

Bringing only accepted items, cleaning them properly, and sorting them correctly helps us protect the investment we’re making in this service and keep it available for everyone in our community.

Small actions add up

One container may not feel significant.

Neither does one refill, one bag of clothing, or one piece of hard-to-recycle plastic.

But when an entire community participates, those small actions start to add up.

That is really what community recycling is about.

You don’t have to solve the entire waste problem yourself.

You just have to do the part you can.

Before your next recycling drop-off

Remember:

Reuse first.

Check our current accepted-items list.

Empty, clean, and dry containers.

Sort items correctly.

Ask us if you’re unsure.

Then bring your accepted items with you next time you visit The Refillary.

Every refill and every properly prepared item helps us keep more useful materials in circulation and out of the landfill.

Thanks again from Adrienne and all of us at the Refillary!