Recycle Utah

Nonprofit Summit County, Utah Recycling Center

#zerowaste

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

What To Do with Halloween Jack-O-Lanterns

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With Halloween coming around the corner, you’re probably getting excited about decorating, making plans with friends, and stocking up on candy… I know I am!  However, as we go into another holiday of mass consumerism, it’s crucial to consider how we can make our actions more sustainable. 

One of the most favored Halloween activities is pumpkin carving. Pumpkin carving is fun and overall, not harmful to the environment. However, when pumpkins are simply disposed of in the garbage, they wind up in a landfill, where, like other organic waste, release harmful methane gas into the atmosphere; methane captures 25 times more heat than carbon dioxide, contributing heavily to global warming.

Composting offers a solution! Composting pumpkins allows for beneficial reuse of organic material being recycled back to the earth, without releasing harmful gases. In Park City, we have great resources for compost disposal, including dropping off your pumpkins at Recycle Utah after Halloween to be composted at Spoil to Soil.

Out of the millions of pumpkins purchased in the U.S. every October, how many will end up in landfills? Composting your pumpkins helps significantly with this problem, and here in Park City, it’s easy and accessible. Additionally, pumpkins are in fact edible! Try saving more of your pumpkin by harvesting the seeds, making pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie, and so much more.

By Grayson Rae, Sophomore at Park City High School

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

The Dangers of “Forever Chemicals” and the Water We Drink

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How safe is the water we drink? Many people are unaware about the chemical PFAS. PFAS has been linked to health problems such as cancer, metabolism disorders, and reproductive problems, to name a few. Monica Amarelo with The Environmental Working Group (EWG) states “PFAS are known as forever chemicals because they do not break down in the environment and build up in our blood and organs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has detected PFAS in the blood of 99 percent of Americans, including newborn babies.”

Recent studies on drinking water have shown that PFAS (polyfluorinated alkyl substances), are in at least 45% of U.S tap water, and that the water we drink contains at least one of the 12,000 discovered PFAS in a U.S. geology survey. “EWG estimates there could be nearly 30,000 industrial polluters releasing PFAS into the environment, including into sources of drinking water.” The EWG stated. Consumers can also take action to protect themselves: The existence of PFAS in drinking water is essentially inevitable, however there are ways that we can filter out these chemicals; The EWG recommends four water filters based off quality, price, and effectiveness: travel Berkey, zero water, clearly filtered, and Epic water filter. It is also critical to look out for PFAS in wax products, and any product that resists grease, water, and oil, according to the CDC. 

Grayson Rae, Sophomore at Park City High School