chelsea@recycleutah.org

Is your business already taking steps to reduce waste, save energy or water, or make other changes that are better for the environment? Those efforts could help you earn certification — and recognition — through the Park City | Summit County Green Business Program.

The Green Business Program helps local businesses build on the sustainability efforts they already have in place — or helps them get started. Businesses earn points for completing actions that make sense for their operations and can achieve Bronze, Silver or Gold certification along the way.

What’s an example of a business sustainability action? Pair recycling bins with trash bins.

Placing recycling and trash bins together throughout your business makes it easier for employees, customers and guests to put materials in the right place. Keeping bins together can increase recycling, reduce confusion and help keep recyclable materials out of the landfill. If your business generates food waste, adding food waste collection can make an even bigger difference.

Already doing this? You may be earning points toward Green Business certification.

Not doing it yet? The Green Business Program can connect you with information and local resources to help you get started.

And that’s just one action. Businesses can earn points for reducing energy and water use, helping employees get around without a car, purchasing non-toxic cleaning products and much more.

Want to learn more? Visit parkcitygreen.org or email greenbusiness@summitcountyutah.gov.

By Emily Newcomer, Green Business Program Coordinator

Halloween is full of tricks, treats and plenty of spooky stuff—but with a little planning, your fright night can be festive without creating a monstrous mountain of waste.

Stop Cosmic Candy Curses

Don’t let candy wrappers become a terrifying trash pile. Collect eligible wrappers for recycling at Recycle Utah.

And before tossing extra treats, remember that unopened candy can be saved for stocking stuffers, used to decorate Gingerbread homes and holiday treats, or you can donate excess candy at Recycle Utah through Wasteless Solutions for distribution to community kitchens around town.

Conjure Up a Creative Costume

Before creating textile-waste terror, raid your closet, craft cupboard or recycling bin and piece together a costume from materials you already have. No need to buy something boo-new!

Hunt for secondhand scares at local thrift stores, where costumes, capes, hats, wigs, props and decorations are waiting for their second act. Or host a neighborhood costume-exchange! Buy Nothing Park City (Facebook) is a great online forum to post and look for items.

Jack-o-Lantern’s Aren’t Junk

Choose pumpkins you can eat as well as decorate, roast the seeds and compost the rest when Halloween is over. Drop off at local schools, Recycle Utah or in your curbside organics collection bucket from Momentum. 

DIY Haunted Halls

Skip the store-bought plastics and summon decorations from things already lurking around your home. Cut bats, black cats and ghosts from cardboard, transform glass jars into glowing lanterns, and use branches, leaves, pumpkins and gourds for naturally creepy décor. And maybe give those hardworking spiders a break and leave their webs up for the week!

For more pre-loved props and haunting home décor, check out the Christian Center of Park City for secondhand treasures.

Throw a Low-Waste Monster Mash

Hosting a monster ball? Keep the party waste-free by using reusable plates, cups, napkins and utensils. Serve drinks from pitchers or dispensers instead of single-use bottles and cans, and pick snacks with minimal packaging.

Make waste sorting for guests wickedly easy by clearly labeling recycling and compost bins. Ask guests to bring reusable containers so leftover treats can go home with them instead of mysteriously vanishing into the trash.

This Halloween, ghost unnecessary waste, resurrect your reusables and scare resource destruction right out of town. A few small swaps can make your celebration a little less trashy—and a whole lot more spook-tacular.

By Jill Donello

Did you know that keeping a healthy lawn and managing a healthy pasture follow a lot of the same rules?

At the Hi-Ute Ranch, just west of Kimball Junction, our lawn mowers happen to weigh about 1,200 pounds and have four legs. Through a partnership with Utah Open Lands, we use cattle and regenerative grazing as tools to help improve the health of this iconic open space.

We give our cattle access to a section of pasture for a few days and then move them on. The important part isn’t just when the cows arrive—it’s how long we wait before bringing them back.

Grass needs time to recover.

On the ranch, we generally look for our grasses to have at least three new leaves before we “mow” them again with cows. Those leaves are the plant’s solar panels. The more healthy leaf it has, the more sunlight it can capture and the more energy it can put back into growth and its roots.

As we head into fall, try applying the same idea to your lawn. Instead of mowing every Saturday because that’s the routine, pay attention to how quickly your grass is actually growing.

Waiting for three new leaves might get things a little shaggier than you—or your neighbors—would like. So start by stretching yourself. Let your lawn grow a couple inches taller than you normally would before pulling out the mower.

Remember, what you see above ground is only part of the story. More healthy growth above ground means more energy flowing below ground—supporting roots, feeding soil life and cycling nutrients.

So this fall, maybe we can celebrate a lawn that’s a little less manicured and a little more alive.

By Mitch Dumke

Mitch Dumke is a co-founder of 3 Springs Land and Livestock, a regenerative ranch operating in the Kamas Valley and Park City area focused on working with nature to raise healthy food, revitalize land and build resilient communities.

Back in August, Recycle Utah held the 11th annual 100 Mile Meal, an event that brings in local meats, produce, and beverages sourced within a 100-mile radius. Food was sourced from 28 different farms and welcomed around 40 farmers. Not only was this a celebration of Recycle Utah, but the event promotes the concept of eating locally. 

Conventional food often travels hundreds to thousands of miles just to get from the ground into your kitchen. That requires ample amounts of refrigeration, emissions, and unnecessary care just to keep it fresh by the time it gets to you. By sourcing food locally, not only do you cut emissions from this mileage, but you reap the benefits of low travel time. Locally sourced food is picked closer to peak ripeness, giving you nutrients and better flavor.

Beyond personal benefits, buying your food from local vendors and farms helps promote the local economy. When you buy from a farmer at a farmers’ market or a co-op, your money goes straight to the producer and doesn’t get lost in a long chain of supply. Oftentimes, you are able to interact with the farmers and get to know more about your food, where it came from, and how it got to you.

Choosing to eat local produce and meat is an easy way to drastically decrease your carbon footprint and benefit your health. Before the summer ends, stop by a farmers’ market or look for labels at the grocery store that say “locally grown” to make an easy impact. Try this for even one meal a week to help make a difference. 

By Alex Muir

The drying of the Great Salt Lake has been a hot-button issue for Utahns in recent years, with one major concern being the health risks associated with dust inhalation from the drying lake bed.

The lakebed of the Great Salt Lake contains heavy metals, including arsenic, lead, antimony, mercury, and cadmium, which are becoming increasingly exposed as water levels drop.

This metal-laden dust can be lifted by the wind and travel thousands of miles and stay suspended for weeks at a time, depending on the dust particle size and weather conditions. These airborne toxins can easily be inhaled and even ingested through produce.

Leafy greens exposed to Great Salt Lake dust have been found to retain these metals even after thorough washing. Some metals from Great Salt Lake dust are soluble in stomach acid, meaning that metals on these leafy greens can be absorbed into the body when consumed. In fact, some metals, including cadmium and lead, can have a three or four times higher absorption rate when dissolved by stomach fluids than when inhaled.

This poses a concern for those growing food in the area, as even small backyard gardens can be affected by windblown dust. It is essential to limit exposure and ingestion of these toxic metals. One way to do so is by implementing windbreaks around crops. 

For example, greenhouses and cloth covers can act as a barrier between dust and plants. Alternatively, planting taller, non-edible plants around sensitive crops can provide a more natural option to the same effect. It is also a good idea to avoid using overhead irrigation systems during dust events, as these can push dust particles onto plants.

By Jillian Perry

As wildfires become more frequent and the effects of climate change become harder to ignore, it can be difficult to feel like one person can make a difference. For young people especially, climate change can feel like an issue that is too large to influence. But creating change doesn’t always mean making a huge individual sacrifice. It can mean using your voice to encourage the people who make decisions to take action.

This summer, I had the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C., with Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL), a nonpartisan, grassroots organization that works to build political support for effective climate solutions in Congress. CCL brings together people from across the political spectrum and trains volunteers to communicate with elected officials, build relationships, and advocate for climate policy.

During CCL’s 2026 Summer Conference and Lobby Day, volunteers learned about federal climate policies and then met with members of Congress and their staff on Capitol Hill. One of the policies CCL is currently advocating for is bipartisan permitting reform, which could make it easier and faster to build and connect clean energy projects such as transmission lines. 

My biggest takeaway from the experience was that being young doesn’t mean your voice doesn’t matter. You can write to your representatives, attend local government meetings, join an environmental organization, or simply talk with people in your community about climate solutions. CCL specifically encourages young people to lobby elected representatives, participate in grassroots outreach, and use their voices to advocate for climate action.

So, the next time climate change feels too big to tackle, start small: speak out. Contact an elected official about an environmental issue you care about, join a local organization, or encourage your community to support a climate solution. Change happens when enough people decide that their voice matters.

By Leighton Knieriem