Recycle Utah

Nonprofit Summit County, Utah Recycling Center

Sustainable Materials

The Guide to Safer Sunscreens, Foods, and Products

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Chemicals and plastics surround us and sometimes are found in us. Recent studies reveal that microplastics are found in human urine, feces and even blood. Are we becoming plastified? Chemified? Environmental Working Group (ewg.org) is a national gem that researches the safety and efficacy of chemicals in sunscreen and cosmetics, cleaning products, food and more. Simply enter your preferred product to see how it ranks from A to F. Or check out EWG’s guides, such as their Sunscreen Guide or “Dirty Dozen” and “Clean 15” lists which reveal the most and least pesticide ridden fruits and vegetables.

Avoiding pesticides in our food makes sense, but you may ask, ‘Why should I be concerned about skin or hair products – how can it get inside me?’ EWG estimates that the average person uses 9 products daily, which contain 126 unique ingredients – some which can seep into our skin or lungs or through our scalp. Sunscreen is a source of harmful chemicals for humans and ocean life – sunscreens that contain Oxybenzone and/or Octinoxate can damage coral reefs. Safer ‘reef friendly’ sunscreens, while often more expensive, contain plants and minerals. Visit EWG’s Sunscreen Guide for safer products.

Awareness is the key. Become educated on your daily products and foods and what’s in them. There are currently more than 85,000 chemicals in the U.S. and it’s up to us to know what’s going in and on our bodies, down our drains, in our homes and on our lawns. EWG.ORG.

By Mary Closser

The Power of Composting

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Every year, United States landfills receive over 150 million tons of garbage. Each bag of tossed garbage contributes to the pollution of surrounding waterways, air, and soil, inflicting health hazards upon humans and animals. It’s puzzling that over 50% of standard garbage set out on the curb can be composted. This simple action – composting – not only replenishes soil, sustains future food production, sequesters carbon, and replaces chemical fertilizers, but it also reduces heaps of methane being emitted from landfills.

So how can one start composting in Park City? There are three options: 1. Start a compost pile at home. Recycle Utah can assist you with doing it yourself through their monthly workshops (next one is 7/9, 10am) and they even sell discounted composting bins. 2. Join Spoil to Soil – a composting pickup service that costs $19/month, supplies all the materials, and picks up weekly. Or 3. Try Vermicomposting or worm composting. This is another great composting option, especially for smaller spaces, like apartments. Worm composting uses worms to recycle food scraps and other organic material into a valuable soil amendment called Vermicompost. It’s a fun way to compost but the worms need at least 40F degrees to survive. 

While most people assume waste, such as food scraps, will biodegrade in landfills, the lack of oxygen prevents this and instead creates methane. The more of us who get on board with environmental steps, the more these actions will start to add up. Composting is a significant step.

By Pearson Ehrich

Proper Disposal of Pharmaceutical Waste

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Unused prescription drugs can lead to possible substance abuse at home. It’s important to get rid of medication you no longer need but where and how do you properly dispose it? Improper disposal of pharmaceutical waste can create an environmental disaster – contaminating groundwater, drinking water, aquatic environments, and more.

The two ways the typical person disposes of their pharmaceuticals are to either flush them down the drain or landfill them. Both options, however, are detrimental to the environment. Medicine flushed down the drain makes its way to sewage facilities not equipped to degrade medicinal substances. These pharmaceuticals can pass through sewage and water treatment plants, leading to contaminated water that will go back into our watershed.

When one throws out their pharmaceutical waste, it will ultimately end up at a landfill and seep into groundwater. From here, these medicines can contaminate lakes and streams, hurting surrounding fish and other aquatic wildlife. These environmental terrors demonstrate the importance of properly disposing of prescription and over-the-counter drugs.

Old, out-of-date, or unused prescription medicines and vitamins can be dropped off at the following Summit County locations: Redstone Center Health Pharmacy, Summit County Sheriff’s Office, Kamas Police Department, or Park City Police Department. For Wasatch County, you can drop off medications at the Heber City Police Department or Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office. To prevent possible abuse of prescription drugs, it’s important to dispose of medication that you no longer need. But be sure to dispose of them responsibly!

By Pearson Ehrich

Go For Glass Containers

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Ugh. Sometimes the food you keep in the plastic bag you bought it in or store in plastic containers begins to taste and smell “weird.” That is the taste and smell of plastic made entirely from artificial materials and chemicals. The smell and taste of plastic worsens over time as the permeable and porous plastic degrades. The culprits—light, oxygen and heat. For this and other reasons, storing food in glass is a much better choice.

Unlike plastic, glass is impermeable. The glass molecules in a container do not interact with those of the food stored in it. For this reason, strong odorous foods like tomato sauce, pickles, and garlic are sold in glass containers. Glass is made from superheated sand and whenever possible, the crushed glass we recycle. It can be re-heated and melted endlessly. Using recycled glass keeps containers out of the environment and manufacturing costs down. Because glass requires more heat to manufacture than plastic does, it is more energy-consuming. It is also costly to transport. For these reasons, it is very important we recycle and reuse our glass containers.

Plastic containers have a much larger environmental and health impact than those made of glass. Plastic is one of the leading causes of pollution. It is the number one cause of death for marine animals. All plastic breaks down into toxic micro plastic particles that do not decompose, whereas glass breaks down into naturally-occurring particles.

Enjoy your food stored in glass containers!

By Bev Harrison

Water Conservation in Gardening

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Gardens provide benefits pertaining to soil and air quality, but they can aid the earth even further when deliberately planned. Through simple actions, a great deal of water can be conserved. This is increasingly important since over two-thirds of Utah’s land is currently classified as being in an “extreme drought.” 

There are many ways to orient your garden to conserve water. One technique is to fill your garden with native plants. Native plants are accustomed to the soil and weather conditions of your area, therefore requiring less manual watering. Buckwheat, Globemallows, and Serviceberries are a few plants local to Utah. Aside from the aesthetic factor, planting your garden in 2-3 inches of natural mulch will prevent evaporation and weed growth. This mulch can be found in various nurseries and landscaping stores around town. 

Once these initial actions have been taken, there are additional conservation measures that can be carried out. One simple action is reusing your household water in lieu of a hose. This excess water can be collected from water bottles, pasta water, or shower buckets. Rain gauges are also a great tool that display the average rainfall in your area. By installing a 5-inch rain gauge into an open area of your garden, you will gain a better understanding of how much manual watering is necessary as the weather fluctuates. 

As the snow begins to melt, start thinking about how you can better orient and maintain your garden to save water! 

By Lauren Allen

Cutting Out Plastic Utensils

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It is a familiar scene: you pick up your takeout food, and the restaurant kindly tosses in a handful of plastic utensils. Although accepted as standard restaurant etiquette, these plastic utensils result in environmental disaster. This plastic pollutes waterways, endangers wildlife, causes extinction in marine species, and degrades the environment.

Considering more than half of the plastic used is thrown into the garbage, these utensils often make their way into oceans, rivers, and more, contaminating the surrounding water. This water is not only used for drinking, recreational activities, and industrial activities, but it is also the habitat of countless marine species. Marine species depend on air circulation for survival; as plastic accumulates in waterways, it covers the surface, disrupting this cycle. Additionally, spoons and forks can be ingested by wildlife–as they are mistaken for food–leading to death.

Studies have shown that, in the U.S. alone, over 40 billion plastic utensils are wasted, ending up in our environment and filling landfills. Surely there is an alternative, right? There are two main solutions to this dilemma. The first is to make the shift from plastic to bamboo cutlery. Bamboo is a great alternative; it is fast-growing, safe, hygienic, and biodegradable. However, the drawback is cost. Some restaurants can’t afford the additional costs of bamboo utensils. So, the remaining option is for consumers to make the change. Next time you are offered plastic utensils, politely opt out.

Enjoy your takeout and make sure to tip but try to leave the utensils behind.

By Pearson Ehrich