Recycle Utah

Nonprofit Summit County, Utah Recycling Center

#sustainability

Hope in the Face of Climate Change

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Climate change is here and it’s terrifying. From natural disasters, sea level rise, air and water quality, food scarcity, to ecosystem collapse, climate anxiety is paralyzing, and the future can seem hopeless. Media outlets prey on this collective fear often focusing on negative stories with clickbait titles. Nevertheless, it is vital for us to be informed of the effects of climate change, to understand the privilege we have as a community currently safe from major impacts of climate change, and to remain hopeful as we face the climate crisis at large.

Hope is often dismissed as an inadequate tool in creating change, but if we don’t have hope and we believe we’ve already failed, then we will. Our opportunity to change before we’ve created irreversible damage is closing, but we still have time. If you’re struggling to find hope, here are some tips:

  1. Involve yourself in your community! Experiencing the world through clickbait media is lonely and daunting, but in reality, a lot of amazing people and organizations are doing the hard work to combat climate change. Volunteer for a local organization focused on sustainability, write to your legislators, vote, and surround yourself with people who are passionate about creating a better future.
  2. Find media outlets that promote the good with the bad, like thecooldown.com that reports on sustainable solutions happening throughout the world.
  3. Close your eyes and visualize! Practice imagining a future you want to live in, and the steps needed to create this future. For inspiration, read Robert Costanza’s “Visions of Alternative (Unpredictable) Futures and Their Use in Policy Analysis.”

By Addison Marr

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

Recycled Metal is Always Precious

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Metals are elements mined from ores. Unlike glass and plastics which are produced from natural resources, we can’t make more metal like iron, aluminum, lead, copper. That keeps the demand and value of used metal high. Nearly all metals are infinitely recyclable without degradation. Scrap metal dealers pay recyclers for their scrap metal. They haul Recycle Utah’s mixed metal dumpster to a scrap metal yard where it is sorted, separated from non-metallic material, crushed, and compacted into large blocks. These are transported to a steel mill where they are melted in furnaces into metal sheets and ingots. We should be diligent about recycling metal. Recycled metal is vastly cheaper than mining ore. It significantly reduces manufacturers’ use of natural resources and energy. It provides recyclers some steady income.

So, what metals go into our curbside recycling bins? If it’s metal and food came in it, put it in your bin and make sure it is 90% clean. Labels do not need to be removed. Recycle aluminum cans, trays, pans, and foil. Keep top tabs attached to or inside crushed cans. Put steel and tin cans, metal bottles and caps into your bin as well.

What goes into Recycle Utah’s metals dumpster? Any non-hazardous item containing at least 70% metal! For example: washers, dryers, stoves, microwaves, bed frames, bikes, grills, cast and wrought iron, cans, golf clubs, tools, and car parts.

By Bev Harrison

Reach Out for Sustainably-Produced Goods

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Demand for recycled materials fluctuates over time. Now, because the demand for cardboard is low, our local recyclers are paying to have it stored. However, cardboard continues to be
diverted from the landfill by our local recyclers and that is an important consideration. (Like food waste, cardboard is biodegradable, and as such, produces methane gas as it breaks down.)

One market trend that remains is consumers opting to purchase sustainably-produced goods.
Sustainable shopping feels good. It reflects our concerns about the environment at a time of
dramatic climate change, visible increases in land, air, and water pollution, a growing
scarcity of natural resources, a decrease in animal populations, and increasing reports of the ill effects of chemical additives to a wide range of products. Our buying more sustainably-
produced goods put pressure on retailers to purchase a larger amount and variety of recycled material. It creates new and different jobs and fosters research and product development.

In order to bolster their authenticity, loyalty, and revenue, retailers are having to pay attention to consumers’ increased demand for sustainable products. It is happening. There are ever more rigorously tested, high-quality sustainably made products for sale. Read their labels and make product comparisons. Choose to be in the growing group of Americans who are shopping sustainably and know by doing so, you are increasing the demand for recycled materials.

By Bev Harrison

Ocean Awareness

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One may ask, “Why should I care about the ocean since I live in Utah?”. While the blue horizon
may not be visible to us, our daily actions ultimately affect the air we breathe, partially derived from the ocean. Our 70% blue planet regulates climate and weather patterns, sequesters heaps of carbon dioxide, is an energy resource, and provides millions of jobs, food, medicine, recreation, and energy resources. Read on for ways to keep our oceans healthy:

  1. Buy Sustainable Seafood: Look for the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Blue Fish
    label that identifies overfishing, conservation of essential and depleting fish habitat,
    minimizing ‘bycatch’ and protected species and creation of prosperous fishing
    communities. Currently, only 1/5 of all marine catch is MSC certified. Ask about the Blue
    Fish label at restaurants and the grocery and download the Seafoodwatch.org guide.
  2. Support Ecological Farming Methods: Sadly, animal waste, fertilizers, and pesticides can
    be washed into our waterways and eventually to sea through irresponsible farming
    methods. Buy organic, learn where your food comes from (or grow your own), and ask
    about ocean-friendly farming methods.
  3. Minimize Plastic Use: It’s estimated that by 2050 our oceans will contain more plastic
    than fish by weight mainly from plastic bags, bottles, food containers and synthetic
    fishing ropes. Microplastics affect the ability of marine microorganisms, including
    essential phytoplankton, to absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. A plastic-clogged
    and warming ocean will hurt plant and animal life, and ultimately humans.
    Our ocean is a powerful carbon sink and an economic and recreational paradise. Our lack of awareness could limit future generations in numerous ways. Let’s change that.

By Mary Closser

The (Un)Sustainability of Tetra Paks

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“Is this recyclable?”, “Which bin does this go in?”, and “What is this even made of?” are questions us recyclers are often asking ourselves while we examine a package searching for the small recycling symbol and trying to determine the material it’s made of. Recently, packaging has become more obscure with waxy-paper-like rectangular cartons that we find in our local stores containing non-dairy milks, broths, juices, soups, and other foods.

Cartons are made primarily with paperboard and are either aseptic or non-aseptic. Aseptic cartons, or shelf-stable cartons, include paperboard, an internal aluminum layer, and a plastic seal. Non-aseptic cartons, or refrigerated cartons, don’t have the aluminum layer, and thus have a shorter shelf life and require refrigeration.

When compared to glass jars, tin cans, and retort pouches, the aseptic and non-aseptic cartons require less energy to produce and are drastically lighter, making their production and transportation carbon footprint smaller. However, aseptic and non-aseptic cartons are very difficult to recycle due to their mixed-material composition.

Here in Summit County, non-aseptic cartons can be recycled as plastic, but aseptic cartons cannot be recycled due to their aluminum lining. Tetra Pak, the Swedish-Swiss conglomerate producing aseptic cartons, stamp the recycling symbol on their cartons but only 30% of their cartons are actually recycled. Without a machine specialized in separating each material in an aseptic carton, it cannot be recycled. Recycle Utah’s recommendation is to purchase your goods in glass jars and tin cans as those are materials that can be reused and recycled without losing quality.

By Addison Marr