Recycle Utah

Nonprofit Summit County, Utah Recycling Center

zerowaste@recycleutah.org

Sustainable Holiday Planning

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The holidays are upon us and being green can require foresight. Americans throw away 25% more trash and 33% more food between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. Read on for tips to keep your sustainability in check this holiday season:

  1. Gifts: Support our local economy, less packaging and a lower carbon footprint by buying local verses online. Buy local gift cards and experiences at favorite restaurants, movies or spas. Bake, knit, frame photos, make jewelry or fun playlists. Shop at thrift stores.
  2. Gift Wrap: Use old comics, maps or reusable fabrics for a fun twist. Save bows, ribbons and gift boxes for next year.
  3. Energy: Use only LED holiday lights inside and out for energy efficiency, financial savings and also to generate less heat on trees and garland. And, recycle old electronics.
  4. Transportation: Errands galore! Try to hit as many stops as possible in one trip rather than a few every day. Try the bus – make a NO CAR pledge day. Be smart and organized, and don’t forget the cloth reusable bags!
  5. Tree: Buy sensibly. Many lot-filled trees have been sprayed so ask questions. Obtain a permit to cut a tree or buy a new houseplant to decorate. Fake trees are okay if you can commit to storing and using it for 20+ years. Lastly, always compost your tree through the local program at a community drop-off. 

This holiday – and beyond – have a closer look at what you buy for yourself and others. Like dominoes, our day-to-day efforts will start to spiral towards a positive result if we all partake.

By Mary Closser

This Thanksgiving Be Thankful, Not Wasteful

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For many, Thanksgiving is a time filled with family gatherings, time-honored traditions, and, best of all, delicious food. However, did you know that in the U.S. during Thanksgiving week, according to NRDC, over 200 million pounds of food will be thrown out? Here are a few ways to reduce food waste, and your carbon footprint, while still enjoying the holiday:

  1. Ready-set-plan: Make a menu plan for the holiday meals you are serving and create a thorough grocery list. Stick to the list in the grocery store and buy only what you need. 
  2. Buy local: If possible, buy local or organic food. The closer the food, the lower the environmental impact thanks to fewer “food miles”.
  3. Toss the turkey: Traditionally, turkey is the star of the Thanksgiving meal, but raising one 16-pound turkey is the equivalent of driving your car over 180 miles! If your guests are feeling adventurous, many brands offer plant-based alternatives.
  4. Get festive for the feast: This is the time to break out the good dishes and linens. Not only will you create a beautiful setting for your meal, but you will also reduce the need for single-use items such as paper plates or plastic cups.
  5. Prepare to share: If you are hosting guests, ask them to bring reusable containers so everyone can share in the leftovers!

We have so many reasons to be thankful this year! Enjoy this special holiday–and maybe start a few new “green” traditions this Thanksgiving.

By Pearson Ehrich

Voting Green—How Important Is It?

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Many of us have made some positive green choices in how we live. However, according to polls, not many of us consider it a priority to vote for candidates who support reducing impacts of climate change—on environmental protections, renewable energy, land-wise development, and the sustainable production of food and goods. It takes time to find out who your national, state and district candidates are and what, if any pro-environment policies they support. If you want to vote what’s right for you and not vote because it’s a pillar of democracy and everyone who can vote should do so, make sure you are politically educated. Have you attended any candidate forums, watched debates, read and listened to news from trusted sources? If you don’t feel you’re well-enough informed, there’s time to “git on it.”

If you are a registered voter, you have received a mail-in ballot. You may not use it to vote but open it and study all “your” candidates. These are based on your address.

To learn more about your candidates and proposed state amendments, search on-line. One helpful site is the League of Women Voters’ VOTE411.org. There, a mock ballot has been created for you. Included, is a series of questions directed to each candidate who may or may not have chosen to answer them. Note this. You can “practice vote” through the entire ballot.

Other sites O2utah.org/ includes a list of candidates they endorse. https://vote.utah.gov/

By Bev Harrison

Responsible Air Travel

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Flights are extremely energy-intensive requiring on average a gallon of fuel per second while in the air. Commercial flights are responsible for anywhere between 2% to 4% of the greenhouse gas emissions in our atmosphere. Airlines receive major fuel subsidies that don’t incentivize or encourage sustainability in the air travel industry. So, while flying has allowed for incredible cultural and societal advances, it’s important to recognize the environmental impacts flying has and take steps to support a more sustainable air travel industry.

As the holiday season approaches and increased travel is inevitable, here are some green tips when booking flights:

  1. Research and choose flights with airlines that are taking efforts to mitigate their environmental impact.
  2. Shorten your itinerary and take nonstop flights! Multiple flights and layovers only increase your air travel and thus, your air travel emissions.
  3. Fly during the day! The plane itself and the clouds it creates help reflect solar heat during the day.
  4. When possible, take ground transportation and limit your air travel entirely.
  5. Purchase carbon offsets yourself and donate to organizations that work to offset carbon emissions.
  6. Take political action! Vote for elected officials that will hold airlines responsible for their carbon emissions and get involved with organizations that are calling for environmental action.

While these green air travel tips are important, they can also be an extra cost to unregulated flight prices due to the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. If you’re financially able to take on these extra costs to reduce your air travel carbon footprint, it’s especially important that you do.

By Addison Marr

Eco-Handwarmers

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Winter is approaching, including cold ski days – what does one do about eco-friendly hand warmers? We know about the heaps of trash being deposited into landfills, so how can we help reduce this? It’s so easy to purchase low-cost plastic-wrapped, single-use hand warmers, but what’s in these things anyway, in addition to the waste alone?

The hand and foot warmer industry is growing! There are currently four types on the market: 1. Disposable Air-activated, 2. Reusable sodium acetate, 3. Lighter Fuel, and 4. Reusable/Rechargeable.

Air-activated hand warmers emit heat when exposed to air. After all the iron has reacted, this product is most likely landfilled. Most of these single-use warmers can be toxic – you wouldn’t want your pet to eat them. Sodium Acetate warmers require a bit of labor but are a decent reusable option. Reusable lighter-fuel warmers are interesting and lastly there are battery-operated warmers. Any warmer that is reusable is the most cost efficient, depending on how often you require warmers.

Air-activated warmers are only compostable if the filling is organic. If the inner compounds are synthetic (usually), soil will be damaged. Moral of the story – know your product. If hand and foot warmers are a necessity for you or your family, perhaps it’s time for a battery charged option (with reusable batteries) or even the Sodium Acetate variety. If you rarely use warmers, then disposables may suffice. This is life. Weigh it out, always considering the landfill, our water, air, and soil. Good luck!

By Mary Closser

Happy (Green) Halloween!

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It’s Halloween time! Unfortunately, this season is often marked by plastic-fibered, cheaply produced costumes, masks, and decorations that are made in highly polluting overseas factories and shipped to big box stores. Americans spend billions of dollars on this stuff. And after a year or two? They throw it in the trash.

“Trick or treat!” Halloween’s #1 fun-filled activity is about collecting individual plastic-wrapped sweets in large plastic bags. And what usually happens to the leftovers? They are thrown in the trash.

Pumpkins galore! Often trucked to us from faraway commercial farms. We carve them into Halloween faces. Fun! Most end up in landfills where, like all food waste, they produce methane gas.

Make Halloween a green holiday. Organize and participate in a costume swap. Use parts of costumes to create new looks. Hit thrift shops and put costumes together from reusable materials. Make festive decorations made out of organic material. Store everything for another year. Buy locally grown pumpkins, gourds and corn stalks. Use pumpkin flesh for baking and seeds for roasting a tasty snack. Leftover pieces are nutritious food for animals such as squirrels and deer. Compost pumpkins. Use small recyclable or reusable trick or treat bags and consider how many sweets you want your children and you to eat. Don’t end up throwing out sweets in their plastic wrappers!

Enjoy the season’s experiences without the waste – Fall Harvest Festivals, Corn Mazes, Halloween Yards, BooLights, WitchFests, Pumpkin Days, hayrides, Little Haunts, Halloween Trains, Haunted Hollows, films, fun runs. Happy Halloween!

By Bev Harrison