Recycle Utah

Nonprofit Summit County, Utah Recycling Center

zerowaste@recycleutah.org

Wishcycling

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You just finished a cup of soda in a disposable container with a plastic lid and straw. You are late to work, didn’t eat breakfast, your kid is calling you about who knows what, and now you are faced with a choice: throwing your waste into the trash can or the recycling bin.

In our increasingly busy lives, figuring out what is recyclable or not on a time crunch is difficult. Plus, there is seemingly no harm in throwing something in the recycling bin. Someone at the recycling facility can surely figure out how to turn it into a new item on the shelf, right?

Turns out, there is a name for this phenomenon: wishcycling, or recycling something only in hopes that it’s recyclable. While throwing an unrecyclable plastic straw or a plastic lid into the blue bin seems innocuous, it can cause serious problems. About 25% of recycling in the United States is contaminated by unrecyclable materials, mainly because of wish cycling. Non-recyclable materials clog and damage recycling machines, require more labor and money to sort out, and ultimately deteriorate the ability to turn materials into new products.

These issues can make contaminated loads unacceptable by recycling sorting facilities. So, what can we do?

1. Abide by the mantra “When in doubt, throw it out.” If you are unsure if something is recyclable, throw it away.

2. Learn more about recycling. Visit recycleutah.org for information on what is accepted in curbside bins and at Recycle Utah.

3. Educate others! If someone throws an unrecyclable item into the trash, let them know.

Montana Burack, Junior at Park City High School

Green Burials

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For millennia, humans wrapped their departed loved ones in a simple shroud and a plain wooden box and returned them to the earth.  This type of burial is natural and environmentally clean.

In the last century, the funeral industry has encouraged people to purchase expensive concrete vaults, coffins made from exotic hardwoods, and developed embalming chemicals using known carcinogens.  The manufacture and transport of these materials puts significant carbon in the atmosphere and leaves a legacy of environmental degradation. Cremation also requires a significant carbon output.

Certified green burials are becoming more and more popular as we realize that our final decisions can leave a positive legacy for the planet.  A certified conservation cemetery uses internment fees for further conservation and restoration of land.  Traditional cemeteries must use fees for irrigation, fertilizer, and lawn mowing. Green cemeteries often look more like natural landscapes, and they usually allow public access.

Most conservation cemeteries do not have headstones, but rather a wall or an area where names can be listed.  Sites are located via GPS, so that family members can return to the burial spot. 

This type of burial is what nature intended.  We return the carbon in our bodies to the soil in the land that nurtured us.

The Summit Land Conservancy is actively pursuing a location for conservation burial in Summit County. Our vision is a public access sanctuary, where people can also be buried. If you’d like to help, please email info@wesaveland.org.

Cheryl Fox, Summit Land Conservancy

Put a Little Bamboo in Your Life

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Here are some stats on the incredible sustainability features of bamboo. A forest of it acts as a giant carbon sink—a tropical bamboo plant can sequester 2 tons of carbon dioxide in 7 years. In comparison, a hardwood tree will sequester a ton of CO2 in 40 years and compared to pine, bamboo absorbs 5 times more. It also produces 35% more oxygen than an equivalent volume of trees. It requires very little water; it doesn’t need chemical fertilizer, herbicides or pesticides; it self-regenerates from its own roots. Crop yield is high. It grows fast. Some species can grow by more than a meter a day! It is fully biodegradable—toss a bamboo product in the landfill, and it will biodegrade in a few or more years. As a building material it is an excellent replacement for plastic, wood, concrete and steel. Its fibers are durable and super strong (er than steel), elastic, lightweight and rot resistant. It makes a lightweight, breathable, antibacterial fabric.

In 2019 the global bamboo marketplace reached $72 billion, and it grows steadily. So, what can we do to put more bamboo in our lives?

  • Learn more about bamboo. An interesting article is at https://www.greenbiz.com/article/north-america-should-be-growinghuge-swaths-bamboo-heres-why.
  • Purchase building materials, fabric, and housewares made with processed bamboo. In clothing, it’s “the new hemp.” Other products include flooring, roofing, scaffolding, furniture, rugs, kitchen utensils, toothbrushes, paper products, and diapers. Eat some high fiber, mineral and vitamin packed bamboo shoots and try a bamboo beer!

By Bev Harrison

Laundry Tips

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Unless you have the laundry fairy on speed dial, chances are you or someone in your household does up to 300 loads of laundry each year. Washing laundry requires about 6,000 gallons of water each year, and the dryer is the 2nd biggest user of energy in most houses behind the fridge. The United States’ annual residential laundry carbon emissions is equivalent to powering 21 million homes. So, what can we do to reduce the environmental impact of laundry, and maybe save some money while we are at it?

  1. Reduce the number of loads of laundry that is done by wearing clothes more than once and running full loads.
  2. Wash on cold. Heating the water in a washing machine takes up to 90% of a washing machine cycle’s energy. While washing on hot is still needed for germ filled loads, cold cycles are generally better for making clothes last longer and removing stains.
  3. If a washer or dryer needs to be replaced, be sure to choose an efficient energy star option. It could save you $370 in operating costs over your washer’s lifetime, and only uses 25 gallons per load, compared to 40 gallons for older machines.
  4. When it comes to drying, air dry if possible. Not only will you reap the savings from not using your energy hogging dryer, but you will also extend the life of your clothes.
  5. When using the dryer, make sure to properly clean the lint filter, and consider using dryer balls to reduce laundry drying time and energy use. Dryer balls also have the added benefit of softening laundry, making them an ideal replacement for single use and chemical laden dryer sheets.

By Montana Burack, Park City High School

Recycling the Small Stuff

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We at Recycle Utah often get questions about the small stuff. The caps? Lids? Corks? Small bath products? First, keep in mind that products need to be pure. If it’s a mixed material, it’s often not recyclable. Additionally, all materials need to be 90% clean of any residue – food, grease, etc.

Lids can stay on plastic bottles and be recycled through curbside service or Recycle Utah. Though, there’s a good chance the lid will pop off when bailed and may be swept aside into the landfill pile at the Salt Lake City recycling facility. Recycle Utah has designated containers for small plastics, corks and more to assure recyclability of small items.

Metals are important to always recycle as they consistently have market value – and recycling metals is less energy intensive than converting the raw material of ore into a new metal. Try compacting foil pieces, yogurt covers and more into a tennis ball-sized mass or save them in a sealed metal can. Metal products are often mixed with plastic – consider that the item needs to be at least 70% metal to be recyclable.

Now the bathroom, an open door to creative alternatives! First, how can you reduce? If your product is disposable, is there a sustainable and non-plastic replacement such as washable wipes, glass or metal containers, toothpaste tabs or bulk buys? And did you know that Recycle Utah accepts toothbrushes and toothpaste containers, a program with Colgate and Terracycle?

By Mary Closser

Food Expiration

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What do food expiration dates really mean? ‘Food product dating,’ according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is voluntary for most products and has nothing to do with safety. It is the manufacturers best guess as to when the product passes the point of peak quality. Produce is easy – we see it and smell it. But what about the other products that hang out in our refrigerators and cabinets?

  1. Baking materials: Vinegars, syrups, honey, vanilla, sugar and salt can last forever without degrading quality. Steel cut or rolled oats can last for a year, instant oats forever. Oils stored in sealed cans are invincible while glass is less sustainable.
  2. Bread, Flour and Rice: Supermarket bread with oils and preservatives can last for weeks in the fridge. White flour and refined white rice can last up to a year or more whereas Whole Wheat, gluten-free flours and brown rice will start degrading after several months. Smell it and always store airtight.
  3. Spices and Nuts: Spices have longevity but lose potency and flavor. Nuts, though, can go rancid within months unless stored in the freezer.
  4. Canned goods and beans: Note that metal lasts longer than glass, which trumps plastic. This includes canned sodas, too. Dried beans and lentils are safe for years.
  5. Eggs and Milk: Eggs can last several weeks after purchasing them. Look for “UHT” or ultra-high temperature on your milk label for longer-lasting milk.

Our landfills contain heaps of food waste. Be smart when you shop – purchase smaller quantities for certain foods, freeze some items and remember that expiration dates are not always true. Your nose is the best test.

By Mary Closser