Recycle Utah

Nonprofit Summit County, Utah Recycling Center

#zero waste

Republic/Waste Management Curbside Recycling Clarifications

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In July, we reviewed curbside recycling guidelines in a Green Tip. Everything in our curbside
recycling bin gets trucked to a huge Waste Management Materials Reprocessing Center in Salt
Lake, where it is dumped onto the tipping floor with tons of other recyclables and non-recyclable. contaminants. So begins its journey through a sophisticated network of conveyor belts and increasingly precise sorting machines until the different recyclable streams are pure, and can be compacted and baled to be shipped to factories and paper mills to make new products.

To make sure your curbside recycling stream is clean, follow these clarifications from Waste
Management and Republic Services. No waxy-coated paper take-out cups. No wax paper,
butcher or freezer paper. The waxy waterproofing is extremely difficult to extract from the paper pulping process and can ruin batches of paper at the mills. Recycle clean take-out plastic cups with their lids on. Coated cardboard milk or juice cartons are accepted.
Do not put anything smaller than a credit card in your bin. These items tend to fall through
screens and be improperly sorted. This is why lids need to be put on clean, dry containers. This also means no shredded paper. If you shred paper, it must be secured in a paper bag before it can go into the bin. Alternatively, use the paper shredder at Recycle Utah. All loose shredded paper needs to be put in their shredded paper dumpster there.


Hard plastics like plastic toys, household items, shelves, flower pots are not recyclable. Clean
balled-up (larger than credit card) aluminum foil is okay. No metal strapping or other metal
items. Tear off greasy parts of pizza boxes. No wet paper or cardboard. If a recycling bin
becomes uncovered during inclement weather and collects water or snow in it, it must
be emptied and dried.

Obviously, we play a crucial role in this planet-saving process. Successful recycling to
you!

By Bev Harrison

The Spookiest Part of Halloween – How to be More Sustainable with Halloween Costumes

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Halloween is such a fun and exciting time of the year for many! Halloween offers the chance to dress up as your favorite characters, indulge in (too much) candy, enjoy seasonal activities, and decorate the house. But have you ever wondered where all the halloween costumes,
decorations, and candy wrappers end up? Some people may reuse their costumes, share them with friends, or donate them, but many people don’t. Most people just throw away their single- use costume where it ends up sitting in the landfill, adding to a concerning amount of waste.

In the United States, over 35 million costumes are discarded each year. That is roughly 2,000
tons of plastic waste, equivalent to 83 million plastic bottles. The majority of Halloween
costumes are made of plastic polymer or non-recyclable oil-based plastics, which means they
are destined to end up in landfills. Polyester can take anywhere between 20-200 years to
decompose. On top of all that, 4 out of 10 costumes are worn only once.
Despite all of these spooky statistics, there are many creative alternatives to help reduce
Halloween waste and still enjoy all the festivities! First, instead of buying a brand-new costume, check out any local thrift stores that sell costumes such as the Christian Center, Savers, and Deseret Industries. You may be able to find used costumes for a much cheaper price. You may also find unique pieces and materials to create your own DIY (do it yourself) costume! A costume I have made in the past was a jellyfish using an umbrella I already had at home, LED lights, and some ribbon I bought at a thrift store. This costume does not take long to create and I only used materials I already had at home or small items that I will use again in the future.

This idea was not only eco-friendly, but very creative and unique. Another idea of how to be more eco-friendly is by swapping costumes with friends and family. This way, you are reusing costumes instead of throwing them away. Or you can swap certain parts of a costume to create your own one-of-a-kind costume! Maybe you are done with a costume and don’t know where else to put it, you can donate it to a nearby school for them to
use in school plays, or at a local thrift store.

By Elly Swartz

Turn the Key: Break the Habit of Idling!

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Habits. Many are ingrained in our daily lives, from brushing our teeth to drinking coffee.
Breaking habits is challenging, but sometimes the break can benefit our health, environment,
and others around us. A habit we all need to break is idling. People idle in ATM lines, drive-
thrus, school zones, post offices, and even the Recycle Utah line.


Park City and Summit County have one-minute idling ordinances. Listed exceptions include
waiting in traffic, authorized emergency vehicles, auxiliary power for law enforcement or fire and water equipment, refrigeration, drilling, lifts, farming, and battery charging. Other exclusions are inspection or repair of a vehicle, health or safety of a person or service animal, safe driving conditions, and efficient operations of a turbo-charged heavy-duty vehicle. There are no exceptions for hot and cold days.

Decades ago, cars with carburetors needed a warm-up in cold weather. However, today’s
engines with electronic fuel injectors don’t need to reach operating temperature before they can be driven. In fact, warming up your car by idling can damage it long-term. The faster a car
reaches operating temperature, the better it is for keeping the engine’s moving parts in good
condition with lubricated oil.

On freezing mornings, scrape then slowly drive away. Idling also equates to driving miles and
carbon dioxide release. Please check out our community’s idling ordinances and don’t be shy
about educating others when they’re idling! Start with a wave, smile, eye contact, and a gesture of turning the key. Be polite, with a “Would you mind turning off your engine?” Justify your ask with a reason. It could be that you’re trying to educate others about our local ordinances or that you or a family member has bad asthma. Always say thank you and give a thumbs up if they flip the key.


It’s time to break this unnecessary and harmful habit. Can we go idle-free while we wait, talk,
text, or eat? Let’s model by example and respectfully educate the new families in our community on how we do it here.

By Mary Closser

Change Your Driving Habits as the Seasons Change

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As the seasons are about to change, Utah’s mountains become a popular destination for
residents eager to witness the vibrant autumn colors. The diverse landscape here in Utah offers some of the most breathtaking fall colors and foliage, making it an ideal time and place for many outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, photography, and scenic drives. Some of the best places to visit are the Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons and Guardsman Pass, which all offer amazing views.

But how are you getting to these destinations? Every Utah resident is familiar with the frustration of dealing with traffic driving in and out of the canyons. Sitting in your car for hours is not something anyone wants to do especially when heading to and from events such as Snowbird’s Oktoberfest.

So what are simple, environmentally-friendly alternatives to driving? Carpooling and public
transportation are a great start! According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
driving/transportation is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Other
modes of transportation that result in direct emissions are trucks, ships, trains, and planes. A
study shows, “in 2022, direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions from transportation
accounted for 29% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions” (EPA).

So instead of driving up the canyons by yourself, carpool with your friends and family! It’s an
easy way to reduce your carbon footprint while also saving money on gas and parking. If driving does not work for you, you can always check out public transportation through the Utah Transit Authority (UTA). They provide a few apps you can download on your mobile device to track the public transit and the locations they stop at to reach your destination.
The next time you venture into Utah’s stunning mountains, consider switching to eco-friendly
transportation options. Not only will you lower your carbon footprint, but you’ll make the
journey more enjoyable. So, let’s embrace the changing seasons and create a cleaner
environment!

What to Do With Hard-to-Recycle Items

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Have you noticed a line-up of yellow buckets on a bench outside Recycle Utah’s office? They are there for us to recycle all sorts of hard-to-recycle items. There is one bucket for dropping off oral care products—dental floss containers, floss sticks, toothbrushes, and empty toothpaste tubes. In other buckets, you can drop off contact lenses, PFAS ski wax and Brita water filters. Another is for cell phones, iPods, tablets, and remote controllers. There is one for products that contain mercury—thermometers, smoke detectors, and blood pressure gauges. There’s a bucket for CDs and DVDs, and a few for different types of batteries. There’s even a bucket for tennis balls for our dogs! Ask staff if you have any questions about recycling hard-to-recycle items.

Recycle Utah sends their collected oral care recyclables to TerraCycle, a company headquartered in New Jersey, that coordinates their reprocessing into different materials and products. By doing this with an ever-growing number of recyclables, TerraCycle and their global partners keep trash out of landfills or from incineration. 

Park City Mountain started a snack wrapper recycling program with TerraCycle in FY2021. With funding support from Frito Lay/PepsiCo they collect wrappers during the winter season in their on-mountain restaurants. These are shipped to TerraCycle and a third party uses the material to manufacture outdoor furniture. Check out the deck furniture at Park City Mountain’s Summit House and Canyons’ Sun Lodge, made out of recycled snack wrappers! All wrappers are recycled in kitchen areas by trained staff as contamination from food waste and non-recyclables is too high when guests sort in public-facing bins. During the busy winter months, Park City has shipped out 2-3 mega-bags each month. According to Erin Fulmore, Sustainability Coordinator for PCMR, in FY2024, they recycled 1.51 tons of wrappers. Erin guessed this is the equivalent of 3 full-grown walruses! Given the average weight of a wrapper is 1 gram, that’s about 1,369,848 individual wrappers.

Don’t get stuck thinking you don’t need to recycle your small hard-to-recycle things because they’ll never amount to any significant diversion from the landfill. Think about PCMR’s snack wrapper outdoor furniture before you decide your little trash items will never be put to good re-use. 

By Bev Harrison

Summer Produce Preservation

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Summer produce is magic: Corn, tomatoes, peaches! Greens, turnips, sugar snap peas! Summer squash, beans – and more tomatoes! 

Whether you’re growing it, eating it, or both, the season’s bounty is glorious. What do you do when there’s too much of one thing – or items start to turn? Here are a few of Summit Community Gardens and EATS’s favorite tips to minimize food waste and use all the harvest:

  • Greens wilting? Bring a pot of water to a boil, blanch for 2 minutes, and drain. Chop and freeze to put in winter soups & stews or saute with onions & garlic.
  • Are your cherry tomatoes getting soft or split? Roast them on a pan of parchment paper with a little salt and oil at 400. Their sweet tang is perfect on a sandwich, folded into eggs, or as part of a vegetable saute.
  • Peaches or any stone fruit soft or bruised? Roast on a pan with parchment and eat with yogurt or ice cream.
  • These things should be stored in the fridge: apples, beans, beets, broccoli, cabbage, chard, citrus fruits, collards, cucumbers, kale, lettuce, okra, peppers, radishes, turnips, zucchini, and all kinds of greens.
  • Melons, pears, and tomatoes can ripen on the counter, then be stored in the fridge.
  • Store greens in the fridge with a damp towel so they can last longer!
  • Make sure to store onions away from potatoes.
  • Store root vegetables in a sealed container with a dry towel.
  • And of course, pickle just about anything!

    By Helen Nadel