The 2026 Summit for Recycling, sponsored by Recycle Colorado!, was indeed a summit for Custer County’s High Country Recycling (HCR). The all-volunteer HCR organization is an innovative non-profit, operating under local Sustainable Ways, Inc. It was spearheaded in 2006 by the now retired local force of nature, Joannie Liebman, in whose honor the recycling center at the County Landfill is named.
At the event held in Westminster earlier this month, HCR was given one of the eleven Recycle Colorado! awards, and was one of three cited for the Mereth Meade Outstanding Volunteer of the Year award. In keeping with the exuberant recycling dynamic of the gathering, even the award was on repurposed material. The HCR citation reads.
“CONGRATS! This award plaque is made from a pre-consumer recycled circuit board. Originally intended for outdoor LED signs (Think: ‘Click it or Ticket!’), it failed quality control and was scrapped. We upcycled it by using a laser to reveal the hidden copper layer.”