Even after the departure of long-time volunteer Nancy Franz, the Grand Resource and Recycle Coalition’s Granby recycling program is still giving residents a place to bring their recyclables from 9 a.m. to noon every Saturday at County Ace Hardware in Granby.

Granby resident Sharon Silva has been volunteering her time to help continue the program after hearing about Franz’s plan to leave Grand County. After the news broke about Franz and her departure, Silva said a variety of individuals and organizations reached out to offer their time and keep the program running.

However, Silva said the Granby recycling program still needs more volunteers for the summer and beyond.

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The Granby Rotary Chapter stepped up and offered to volunteer for two Saturdays in April, and Grand Animals 4-H Club members have also started volunteering during Saturday recycling. A Middle Park High School student has begun volunteering, and Silva said she would love for more high school students to get involved.

While she has people interested in supporting the program, Silva said she doesn’t want a situation where she has eight volunteers one Saturday and zero the next. The ideal situation, according to Silva, would be if organizations or businesses volunteered to cover one Saturday each month to ensure consistency.

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If “companies just give me a Saturday, then I wouldn’t have to worry,” Silva said. “I had like four no-shows last week.”

Real Estate of Winter Park has committed to exactly that. The real estate agency announced a new partnership with the Grand Resource and Recycle Coalition to support the recycling efforts and has committed to providing two volunteers for one Saturday each month for the next year, starting April 19, according to a news release.

Silva said she spends a significant amount of time calling potential volunteers to confirm attendance. But even with the difficulties Silva has encountered since inheriting the program, she feels extremely grateful for everyone who has volunteered their time.

“I want to thank all the volunteers who showed up recently to help me, especially with my broken leg,” said Silva, who is recovering from a skiing accident.

Volunteers can expect to help oversee recycling operations, make sure that only accepted items get recycled and generally lend a helping hand. For example, senior or disabled residents who bring items for recycling often need help getting the items out of their vehicles and tossed into the bins, according to Silva.

Another aspect of working the bins is to simply greet community members. Grand Resource and Recycle Coalition volunteers typically stay from 9 a.m. to noon and ensure the area is cleaned up before departing.

Volunteers also encourage users of the recycling program to continue to donate $2 when dropping off recyclables to help cover the costs of operation. The program is heavily reliant on donations, according to Silva.

“I don’t know how (Franz) managed to do it, because it’s close every week with all the donations,” Silva said.

Accepted recyclable items include: aluminum and steel cans, glass bottles, plastic bottles, aerosol cans, cardboard, food boxes, paper towel tubes, non-greasy pizza boxes, paper food and beverage cartons, magazines, mixed paper, newspaper, paper cups, plastic containers, plastic jugs and plastic jars. The bins cannot accept items such as clothing, foil bags, plastic bags, trash, plastic foam (such as Styrofoam products) and more. To learn more about acceptable recyclables, visit DenverGov.org/cartsmart.

In addition to volunteers, the Grand Resource and Recycle Coalition is looking for board members to continue the nonprofit side of the operations. While the coalition has been focused on recycling efforts, future board members can use the coalition’s nonprofit status to do other sustainability work beyond recycling.

Anyone who is interested in volunteering or becoming a board member can email grandrrc@gmail.com for more information.