Recycle Utah

Nonprofit Summit County, Utah Recycling Center

Sustainable Materials

Small Appliances

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Your coffee machine or humidifier breaks, what should you do? Can it be recycled? Sadly, most small appliances contain an array of mixed materials, primarily hard plastic. Mixed materials cannot be recycled and often end up in our landfills. Such small appliances include hairdryers, dust busters, flashlights and more. The rule of thumb for recycling at Recycle Utah is your product needs to be at least 70% metal for it to qualify for a drop into the metal recycling bin.

What is there to do about all these plastic-infested appliances? First, prioritize quality. Pay more for products that will last longer. Second, inquire about the manufacturer having a ‘take back’ program once the product reaches its end. More businesses should be doing this, some have already started with this circular-economy concept. Third, try to purchase products with the 70% metal rule, or ones that can be taken apart to recycle the materials separately.

Examples of products containing mostly metal that can go into the Recycle Utah metal bin are toaster ovens, microwaves, stereos, and lawnmowers. Electronics can also be recycled, though larger items (computers, TVs, and printers) require a small fee. Working vacuum cleaners and other appliances (in addition to housewares, books, tools, and much more) can be resold in our Warehouse Thrift Store!

By Mary Closser

Enjoying Coffee Sustainably

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Context behind the Caffeine: Coffee began as a colonial system with a clear demarcation between producing countries and consuming countries. This unique plant disseminated from Africa can only grow in limited geographic regions, all of which are already experiencing the detrimental effects of climate change. Even as a scientific understanding of coffee has increased, the information disparity inherited from an exploitative past continues to impair the ability of the current generation of coffee farmers to operate genetically robust plantations while making a living that was never really afforded to them to begin with. Without change to this system it is estimated that only fifty percent of all land currently bearing coffee will remain arable for future use. What can you do? Stay educated and start small, here’s what to do with coffee packaging.

Bags: Industry standards for coffee bags entail an inner lining to keep coffee fresh and sometimes include the addition of a one-way valve and/or zipper. This amalgam of materials fused so inseparably is problematic when it comes to recycling. The plastic valve can often be removed and recycled as a small plastic, however, the bags themselves can only be processed by certain locations and thus have limited collection facilities. For Utah residents, Subaru sponsors collection facilities at the Nate Wade and Mark Miller dealerships. These are turned over to TerraCycle, a company dedicated to recycling tricky materials such as coffee packaging. There is a new type of coffee bag largely popularized by Biotre, with a paper/pulp exterior and plant based plastic interior. These can be recycled as a standard soft plastic in most cases.

Cans/Tins: Steel and aluminum cans/tins are completely recyclable in their respective metal recycling available to you.

Pods: Keurig K cups can be recycled with #5 plastic so long as the aluminum foil is removed. Nespresso pods have a lining in the aluminum and require proprietary recycling, drop off locations are found on their website. In short, go with a reusable option.

Alternatives: Bring your own container to the grocery store and use the dispensers they have there. Form a relationship with a local roaster and utilize their pick up in store feature but request to bring your own packaging.

Above all else, take a few minutes to dedicate to researching coffee’s origins, the people behind it, and the potential limits to the ethical and environmental sustainability of its continued production and consumption.

Flavor Boosting Gold

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If you’ve already developed the household habit of collecting food scraps for compost, here is another benefit of diverting food waste from the landfill: homemade vegetable broth. Giving food scraps a second life by making broth is a way to reduce consumption of Tetra Pak cartons that are not recyclable in Utah. It is also a precursor to composting, reducing emissions of methane, a harmful greenhouse gas from food waste in landfills.

Keep rinsed vegetable scraps in the freezer, controlling any odor in a cold environment until you have collected enough for broth (a full bowl). Bring all the scraps to a boil in a large pot, adding spices and salt. Get creative with this- try making different broths for various types of recipes. Once up to a boil, reduce to a simmer for as long as you can while not leaving it unattended, an hour or two is ideal. Let the broth cool on its own with the lid on and heat off. Once it cools completely, strain and fill jars about 80% full so that the liquid does not crack the glass when it freezes and expands. Toss the vegetables into your compost.

This new habit is easy to create for your whole family. As you teach children to collect ingredients for broth – inspire them to gather “flavor boosting gold.”  Allow them to be the ones to label the 32-64 oz mason jars with the date and ingredients of that batch of broth.

By Kellie Hill, EATS Park City

The Lifecycle of Foam

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Packing peanuts, food containers, coffee cups, and packaging material you might know as Styrofoam. In fact, Styrofoam is a Dow company trademarked name for extruded polystyrene foam (XPS) that’s used for insulation purposes. The foam we often encounter when we order large items online or pick up takeout for dinner is expand polystyrene foam (EPS).

Polystyrene is a type of plastic that begins in the manufacturing process as small synthetic beads. The beads are heated and molded to form several types of commonly used plastic, including CD cases, smoke detectors, disposable razors, and other hard plastics. During the heating process, the beads can be expanded and molded to form EPS and XPS foam. EPS and XPS foam are expanded between 40 and 80 percent of the original volume and consist primarily of air. It’s inexpensive to manufacture, simple to transport due to its lightweight nature, and is a semi-durable and reliable product. So, what’s the problem?

EPS and XPS foam are notoriously difficult to recycle due to our municipal recycling infrastructure. In the landfill, it can take around 500 years for it to decompose. When EPS and XPS foam end up in our natural environment, it leaches into our water and soil systems as component cells. The health risks of the component cells in our natural environment are daunting with some experts suspecting them to be carcinogenic.

To help prevent the pollution of EPS and XPS foam in our environment, use alternative products to foam, encourage your local and online businesses to switch to paper products,  and vote for policies and politicians that will create bans of foam in your community.

By Addison Marr

Our Grocery Choices: Some Recycling Packaging Conundrums

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We often hear about nixing the plastic bag for a reusable and that’s easy. What about some of the more complex sustainability conundrums as we stroll through the grocery aisles?

  1. Styrofoam: Always looks for an alternative. Eggs? Choose paper. Meat? Buy directly from the butcher.
  2. Yogurt: Small containers or the big tub? Select the big tub unless you won’t be able to finish it to avoid the food waste.
  3. Soup stock: Nix the non-recyclable Tetrapaks (often used for stock and alternative milks). Choose concentrated stock in small glass jars or cubes.
  4. Kid lunch items: The cute single-use items are screaming to be purchased (mini applesauce, juice boxes, Lunchables, etc.), but they are single-use and end up in the landfill. Pack your own goodies in reusable containers and save money.
  5. Coffee and tea: Standard plastic coffee bags that are mixed with paper or metal are not recyclable. Buy in bulk with your own containers or buy coffee in a metal container and avoid using the individual coffee pods. Tea can also be purchased in bulk but if individual bags are preferred, they are compostable. Prioritize teas in paper packaging rather than plastic or mixed-material packaging.

Packaging is complex and ever-changing. If in doubt, always choose paper, metal, or glass over plastic. Plastic was an amazing invention at one point in history, but we are now seeing the environmental repercussions. Glass and metal can be recycled endlessly without degrading in quality. Paper is easily recyclable and usually compostable. It’s the smart choices we make now that will benefit our children down the road.

By Mary Closser

Cosmetics and the Environmental Working Group

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Before slathering your moisturizer on your face or applying your new mascara, I would invite your first to ask, “What exactly am I about to place on my skin?”. Today, the Food Drug Administration does not require safety testing for ingredients in our skincare and makeup products. Many products on the market today may contain toxic chemicals such as Formaldehyde, a well-known carcinogen.

Luckily, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) released an app called Healthy Living which allows you to confirm if a product is EWG VERIFIED. EWG verification is based on their Skin-Deep database, which provides consumers with information on personal care products. Using the data from this database, the Healthy Living app allows you to find products based on the organization’s strict standards that ensure safety from chemicals on their “Unacceptable” list. The list includes ingredients that concern our health, contamination, and ecotoxicity. By knowing your product is EWG VERIFIED, you can ensure transparency in ingredients based on decades of research. 

To use the app, simply tap scan at the bottom of the page, scan your product’s barcode, and receive an overall rating. From there, you can further explore individual ingredients to find their rating and use. Additionally, the app offers data on food and household cleaning products. 

The EWG is an activist group founded in 1993 that conducts research and advocacy work focused on protecting public health. EWG has made great strides in fighting against damaging agricultural practices and outdated legislation. Their website EWG.org offers not only information on personal care products but also food, water, energy, and more!

By Miriam Flores