Recycle Utah

Nonprofit Summit County, Utah Recycling Center

#zero waste

Reduce Waste in Your Everyday Life

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Since opening in 2009, Savoury Kitchen has endeavored to implement eco-friendly practices in all aspects of our business. These efforts are not only beneficial for our community and planet but also contribute to cost savings, a healthier lifestyle and record snowfall last season. (You’re welcome.)

Here are some practical tips we compiled for reducing waste in your own lives:

  • Embrace the Three Rs: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle: Reduce unnecessary purchases, reuse items whenever possible, and properly recycle materials. Example: Our office is furnished almost exclusively with items reclaimed at Recycle Utah’s warehouse. Thanks guys!
  • Go Paperless: Minimize paper usage by transitioning to digital docs and comms. Utilize cloud-based storage and collaborative platforms for file sharing and opt for electronic invoices and receipts whenever possible. This not only reduces paper waste but also promotes a more organized and efficient work environment. It’s easy. You should just do it.
  • Cultivate Sustainable Habits: Incorporate sustainable practices into your daily routine, like stocking real (not paper) coffee cups in the office, composting food waste, bundling errands and turning off the lights. And for Pete’s sake, please stop buying single use bottled water!
  • Support Your Local Green Businesses: Show some love and appreciation to these Green Businesses by promoting their initiatives on social media, sharing positive reviews and emphasizing the importance of their eco-friendly practices.

By implementing these tips, individuals play an active role in creating a more sustainable and waste-conscious living and working environment, thereby contributing to a healthier and greener Park City for future generations.

By Jon Green, Savoury Kitchen

Savor the Flavor, Not the Waste: Reducing Food Waste This Thanksgiving

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As Thanksgiving approaches, we look forward to delicious meals with loved ones. Yet, this season also witnesses a sharp 25% increase in household waste, with food waste being a major contributor. This waste surge is especially concerning because food decomposition releases potent greenhouse gases, including methane. The good news is that we all have the power to change this trend. Let’s make this Thanksgiving more sustainable and reduce our environmental impact by curbing food waste.

When preparing your Thanksgiving feast, thoughtfully plan your menu, avoiding excessive dishes that lead to leftovers. Before heading to the grocery store, do a thorough inventory check of your pantry and refrigerator to identify ingredients you already have, reducing the need for additional purchases. Opt for recipes that efficiently utilize similar ingredients, making the most of what’s available.

Embrace sustainable shopping practices to lessen your Thanksgiving environmental footprint. Purchase locally and organically when possible, supporting your local community while reducing the carbon footprint of your meal. Don’t forget to bring reusable produce bags! Opt for homemade dishes whenever you can; they tend to be more environmentally friendly, generating less packaging waste and fewer emissions from production and transportation. 

After the meal, focus on eco-friendly food storage solutions that keep leftovers fresh while reducing waste. Say no to disposable plastic containers and explore reusable, sustainable alternatives. Finally, make recycling and composting bins easily accessible for your guests to encourage proper waste disposal. By sorting recyclables and compostables from regular trash, you can significantly reduce the volume of waste sent to landfills, making a big impact this holiday season!

By Chelsea Hafer

Sewer Water Contaminants

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Recycle Utah offers seasonal tours for our visual learners with the most recent one in October at Snyderville Basin Water Reclamation District (SBWRD). How eye opening! All water flushed and drained from the shower, laundry, and sink in Summit County flows underground through sewers to one of their two county facilities. The wastewater is cleaned via microbes, ultraviolet lights and more before it’s returned to local streams.

Their most challenging contaminant? Produce stickers. Close seconds are ‘flushable’ wipes, dental floss, grease and cooking oils, hair, menstrual products, cotton balls, gum, and kitty litter. Oil disagrees with water, and the other products are non-biodegradable. Additionally, while paper towels and facial tissues may appear to decompose in water, they do not like toilet paper. Food can clog drains (compost instead?) and swell in large quantities (cereals or grains) and medications do not decompose– take any leftover medication to a police department or pharmacy. What goes down our drains should ONLY come from toilet residue, bathing residue and small particles of food from rinsing. SBWRD hauls at least one dump truck of trash and sludge from their plant each day, not considering the numerous materials getting stuck in their filtration machines.

Let’s be better water stewards. Let’s help the dedicated SBWRD employees who clean our water. After all, as Luna Leopold put it, “Water is the most critical resource issue of our lifetime and our children’s lifetime. The health our water is the principal measure of how we live on the land.” Please subscribe to Recycle Utah’s newsletter (fill in the box in the bottom left of this page) so you can stay abreast of our local tours!

By Mary Closser

Talking About Climate Change

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How often do you talk about climate change or hear someone else talk about it? If you responded, “not much,” you are not alone. Only 24% of Americans have heard Climate Change discussed in their social circle.

To stop the goliath that is climate change, we need to talk about the issue and solutions. We also need to get as many people on board with climate initiatives as possible, including people who are otherwise unmotivated or unconvinced of the need to act. The only way to do that is, you guessed it, to talk about it. So, how should we go about this?

  1. Have non-judgmental discussions. Open-minded discussions about emotional topics lead to lasting opinion changes and increased concern about an issue. They increase the chances that participants want to act.
  2. Focus on values and personal experiences. In climate discussions, this could mean talking about family, religion, community, recreation, patriotism, and how climate change affects them all.
  3. Rather than focusing on doom and gloom facts, be optimistic. Discuss the potential for solutions that benefit not just the planet, but also our economy, health, and equality.

Here is the best part about all of this: those who we talk to about climate change then discuss it with their social circle, creating a positive feedback loop. Only 22% of those who rarely discuss climate change talk about it with their family and friends, while 76% of those who discuss climate change at least once a month talk about it to their family and friends.

So, let’s all challenge ourselves to talk to someone about climate change and see where the action takes us.

Montana Burack, Senior at Park City High School

From Summit County’s Solid Waste Superintendent, “Please recycle your cardboard!”

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The increase in mail order and consumer packaging has dramatically increased the amount of old corrugated cardboard (OCC) being dumped at the Summit County Three Mile Canyon Landfill in Coalville. Tim Loveday, the County’s Waste Management Superintendent, states that this is a “real problem and it’s frustrating.”

The problem? Like any other landfill garbage, breaking down OCC produces greenhouse gas. Also, compacted OCC takes up about two and a half times more space when compared to other compacted waste– 700 pounds of OCC compared to 1600 pounds of other waste per cubic yard. Dumping OCC is shortening the projected thirty-five-year lifespan of the landfill by one year for every ten. There’s room for four more double-lined pits or “cells” on the property. One is needed now, and Loveday has requested 3.3 million dollars in the County’s 2024 budget to create it.

Especially frustrating is the fact that when OCC is recycled it earns municipalities and recyclers money. Loveday says Summit County has made money on it in past years; this year they are breaking even. Curbside recycling is capturing 39% of residential OCC, which means we are still dumping about 60% of it. Households that don’t have or use curbside recycling must take their OCC to Recycle Utah or to the landfill where if separated out, it is easily placed into on-site OCC-only dumpsters for recycling. Still, landfill staff see users throwing OCC into the mixed trash dumpsters. Throw away enough OCC, and you’re throwing away money. The message to recycle OCC is an old oft repeated one. Loveday is still asking us, perhaps with more urgency, to sort and recycle your old corrugated cardboard!

By Bev Harrison

Fast Fashion

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Are you tired of your clothes and in need of a shopping spree? Maybe a wedding is on the horizon and a new zippy dress or suit sounds divine. Yet, you’ve heard of the negative impact of the fashion industry on our planet. So, what can you do? It’s true, Europe and the United States are the biggest culprits for clothing waste. Cotton is water-intensive and insecticide heavy; leather is often associated with Chromium, a carcinogen; synthetics like polyester, nylon, and rayon are made from fossil fuels, accounting for more than 60% of clothing today.

Clothing may travel thousands of miles before arriving on our doorstep due to the complicated supply chain structure. The microplastics and dyes from clothing can seep into our water system in the wash. After a while of owning it, you tire of it and want to do away with it. So, where can you take it? 85% of U.S. textile waste ends up in landfills or incinerators and polyester can take decades to break down.

How can you sustainably shop and do away with clothes?

  1. Stop buying so much.
  2. Donate to thrift stores and buy from thrift stores or online secondhand clothing sites.
  3. Rent clothing. More and more online platforms do this!
  4. Donate to Big Brothers Big Sisters bins around town. Big Brothers Big Sisters accept any textile, including old towels, sheets, or accessories and will either resell, donate, or repurpose those items. Find a bin here.
  5. Know your manufacturer (some are more pro-active than others with sustainability). Learn more here.

Clothing is fun! It’s how we express ourselves. Though times are changing and so must our creativity in moving towards simplistic, long-lasting styles with clothing, shoes, accessories, housewares, and more. Everything we own has a footprint.

By Mary Closser