Recycle Utah

Nonprofit Summit County, Utah Recycling Center

chelsea@recycleutah.org

A Refresher on Composting

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Our community knows a lot about sustainability at this point. Many of us compost, thanks to increasingly convenient composting options. No matter your composting experience, it can always be helpful to get a quick refresher on the rules & importance of composting!

Composting is separating your organic waste (like food scraps, shells, bones, and yard waste) from the rest of your trash and recycling so that it doesn’t end up in the landfill. Composting is important for several reasons. First of all, it repurposes food waste into nutrient-rich soil, which is re-implemented into the earth, creating new life. Additionally, around 50% of the volume of our landfill is food waste, which has long-term impacts on the environment. Food waste in landfills is not able to biodegrade and instead emits methane, a greenhouse gas around 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide, exponentially increasing global warming. 

When composting, there are many things you can do with your organic waste; you can compost it on your own (which entails breaking it down and repurposing it) or you can have a composting company haul it from you. Unfortunately, the state of Utah does not mandate composting, so households have to rely on businesses to take care of composting. Luckily, in Park City we have the Zero Food Waste Initiative. This initiative, run by Park City Community Foundation, is trying to achieve zero food waste in Summit County by 2030 through the use of curbside composting. To participate, you can sign up for you’re own compost bin and weekly pickups from Momentum Recycling on the PCCF website. Let’s keep our land green and clean! 

By Grayson Rae

A Letter to Kin: Our Garbage

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A letter, the first in a four-part series…

My Kin, I think often about your quality of life and health as I live my own with joy. What we do now will affect you and I’m trying to be aware and base my actions with this knowledge. I’ve worked hard to save natural resources by recycling and preventing our precious planet from filling up with garbage. Turning food waste back into soil has been helpful, but we humans still waste too much and not everything can be reused. My family–your ancestors–has been able to usually succeed in generating one small bag of garbage a week, but I know over time that adds up, and I’m trying to waste less. 

My Kin, we strive to reduce what comes in by taking our own cups, cutlery, bags, and containers to stores, restaurants, and potlucks. I hope you’re not reeling from the repercussions of our plastics, that once amazing invention from the early 1900s that later proved to be environmentally destructive. Can you believe they’re even finding remnants of it in our bodies? Our family tries to avoid this nemesis by using toothpaste tabs, shampoo bars, and metal and glass containers, but it’s challenging–plastics are so convenient and seem unavoidable. We’re decent at not buying special drinks in plastic, drinking our clean tap water, and buying foods unpackaged. Our paper products, like TP, paper towels, and copy paper from our treasured trees are usually made from post-consumer content, and when we can, we try to avoid using them at all (except the TP!). 

My Kin, we sometimes need or like to buy new clothes, shoes, gear, and furniture, and we prioritize thrift stores over buying something new, but it can be challenging. We rarely order anything online, as that results in packaging waste and trucks, boats, or planes polluting our environment to deliver them. When we buy cars, electronics, and homes–immense resource hogs–we try to buy them used, but our generation seems to thrive on consumption, and the responsible choices aren’t always available.

My Kin, I think often about what I have now–clean water and air, trees, wild animals, land and food–and I can only hope you’re experiencing the same. Please know we are all trying… 

By Mary Closser

There’s no social justice without environmental justice

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A few weeks ago, I went to New York to visit some college friends. When I opened their trash can, it was full of cans and plastic jugs. As probably the second-biggest recycling stickler in Park City (close behind the woman who trained me), I had to ask why there were cans in the trash can when there was a perfectly good curbside recycling bin sitting outside the front door. They gave excuses—recycling doesn’t work, it’s a hassle—but later, over a glass of wine, the real reason came out: with so many heavy issues in the world, it just didn’t seem important.

I get it. In many similar conversations with my friends, we eventually get to a point of someone–often, myself–saying “it’s too much”. Too many crises, too many injustices, all piling on until the only response left is frustration or dread. Most days, I turn off KPCW when NPR comes on because I just don’t have the capacity to hear the bad news. And when we’re already stretched thin, it’s hard to hold space for environmental issues on top of everything else.

With so much tragedy in the world, our focus is pulled in a million directions. Climate change, by comparison, feels disregarded or left out, its impacts slow-moving, scattered, and often invisible in the moment. Why pay attention to a slightly warmer summer when the news is full of families being torn apart? I’m not asking anyone to change what they care about—it’s all important. But I do think we need to keep environmental issues in the background, because the background of every other issue is, ultimately, the environment.

If we let the environment slip too far, it becomes harder to deal with other urgent issues because everything depends on a livable planet. You don’t stop changing the oil just because you’re busy with other repairs. If you do, the whole car breaks down.

I think right now, we should all be aiming for maintenance-level engagement when we can. Don’t feel guilty about not doing everything, but don’t give up on everything either. Keep it simple: recycle when you can, pick up trash when you can, eat less meat when you can. Try to find ways to weave the environment into your thoughts or conversations on other topics–there’s always a connection. There’s no social justice without environmental justice.

By Chelsea Hafer

Mastering Curbside Recycling

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When Recycle Utah goes into schools to teach Summit County students, we always start with the same introduction. We review various materials and where they can be recycled, and always tell students to go home and share what they learned with their families. If we’ve visited your student’s classroom, hopefully, you’ve heard it before! But if you haven’t, here’s a comprehensive guide to mastering curbside recycling.

It’s essential to know what can go in your curbside recycling bin and to recycle correctly. If contamination rates are too high, the entire bin could be discarded. The rule of thumb is “When in doubt, throw it out”. It’s better to throw one thing in the landfill than to risk contaminating your entire bin! We have seen much lower curbside recycling contamination rates in recent years; a decade ago, our county’s recycling contamination was about 35%, compared to today’s 20% contamination. The best way to ensure that your waste is truly being recycled is to make sure your recycling isn’t contaminated.

Curbside recycling accepts metal cans, hard plastics (like bottles and containers), paper (newspapers, magazines, office paper), and cardboard (corrugated boxes). It’s crucial to stick to these categories to avoid contamination. Glass items cannot go into mixed stream curbside bins. Glass contaminates other recyclables and can cause entire batches to be rejected. Instead, use local glass recycling drop-off bins. Food waste should never go into curbside recycling bins. Even small amounts of food residue can contaminate recyclables and render them non-recyclable.

All recyclables should be placed loose in the recycling bin. Avoid placing them in plastic bags, as they can jam recycling machinery. If recyclables are in a plastic bag, they will likely be mistaken for trash and end up in a landfill. Ensure that recyclables are at least 90% clean and dry before placing them in the bin. Rinse out food containers, remove any food residue, and let them dry completely.

Our landfill is filling up quickly, and the only way we can extend its lifetime is by creating less trash. Proper curbside recycling reduces waste, conserves natural resources, and minimizes environmental impact. By following these guidelines, you help ensure that your efforts are effective and contribute to sustainable practices in our community. Mastering curbside recycling is not just about following rules—it’s about making a meaningful impact on our planet!

By Chelsea Hafer

Living in Harmony: Responsibly Exploring Park City’s Open Space

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Park City, and the mountains and meadows of the Wasatch Back, are home to a variety of flora and fauna that are both unique to the Rocky Mountains and beautiful. With miles of trails and thousands of acres of open space, we can explore, experience, and enjoy these plants and creatures in their natural habitat. Wildflowers, trees, grasses, fungus, deer, elk, moose, mountain lions, bears, coyotes, bobcats, and eagles all lived here long before us. We must treat them with respect while recreating outdoors… or when they show up to our backyard BBQ.

Wildlife is wild. At the trailhead, always check the posted signs and warnings. Unusual wildlife activity is often noted with instructions or information about what to do and where the animal was last seen. As more recreationists hit our world-class trails, animals are experiencing an increased number of encounters and human (and dog) induced stressors. If you happen to come upon an animal, always keep your distance and give it a clear escape route (especially if offspring are present). Never crowd a wild animal; doing so could make the animal feel threatened, stressed, and become unpredictable. Always carry a leash, and when crossing paths with wildlife, be sure to keep your dog(s) close by and under control. If it’s impossible to go around and provide a wide berth, it may be time to head home and hike/bike another day.

As blooms, ‘shrooms, hops, and berries begin to pop up, we encourage people to always stay on marked trails to minimize impact. When foraging, abide by the principles of the Honorable Harvest, a practice discussed in Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book, Braiding Sweetgrass:

Ask permission of the ones whose lives you seek. Abide by the answer.
Never take the first. Never take the last.
Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.
Take only what you need and leave some for others.
Use everything that you take.
Take only that which is given to you.
Share it, as the Earth has shared with you.
Be grateful.
Reciprocate the gift.
Sustain the ones who sustain you, and the Earth will last forever.

As responsible neighbors, stewards, and kin of plants and animals, we can peacefully coexist with nature and the beings that call the Wasatch Back home. If you’d like to learn more about our connection to the natural world, join Summit Land Conservancy this summer as we hunt for hops and “bathe” in open space. Visit wesaveland.org/happenings to learn more.

By Caitlin Willard, Summit Land Conservancy

Perils of Plastic: Why Refusing Single-Use Plastics is Crucial for Our Future

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Plastic was groundbreaking when it was invented a century ago. I remember my mother having Tupperware parties in the 1960s to show off and sell the new cutting-edge reusable food storage system. Now, less than 100 years later, we are seeing the repercussions. Some of the following information comes from Eve Schaub’s book Year of No Garbage (www.eveschaub.com).

The recycling industry does not make money on plastics – we lose it. We recycle plastic because it’s the right thing to do, to keep the material that never biodegrades from filling our landfills and polluting our soil, water, and air. Five ocean garbage patches, or ‘gyres,’ exist in our seas. These patches are primarily composed of plastics that photodegrade into small pieces that appeal to fish and birds as food. When plastics end up in our landscape, their synthetic composition cannot be digested by nature, including wildlife. This includes our bodies. Many of us humans contain microplastics in our lungs, liver, tissue, urine, and more, which enter our bodies through ingestion, inhalation, and skin exposure. The plastics come from food and cosmetics, drinking water, air, beverage containers, toys and more.

The fossil fuel industry is making single-use plastics our primary option. 380 million tons of plastic are manufactured every year, and that number is increasing – plastic production is expected to double in the next 17 years. The plastics industry knows it’s a challenge to recycle the product. It’s easier and cheaper to make new material. Markets are limited for recycled plastics, while metals, glass, cardboard, and paper are consistent and occasionally even profitable. Corporations focus on ‘not littering’ and ‘recycling,’ trying to divert attention away from packaging being the central issue.

Countries and states are slowly banning bags, styrofoam, and single-use plastics. But more needs to occur globally. A mandatory cap on plastic production, restrictions on single-use plastics, and regulation of plastic chemicals are all critical steps. Companies need to be accountable for any waste they generate from cradle to grave, and we as individuals need to adjust our shopping habits to incorporate a “reduce, reuse54 and rethink” mentality. Let’s open our eyes to the myriad of plastics in our daily routine and get creative as to how we can avoid them or find an alternative. Humans can adapt quickly with a healthy dose of awareness.

By Mary Closser