Spotlight: Recycle Utah
by KATIE BROOKS
Most of us take it for granted that our drinking water is and always will be safe to drink. What most of us don’t know is that the materials we throw away play a big part in the cleanliness of our tap water. Toxins from our landfills can seep into our groundwater, the main source of our drinking water.
Sobering problems like this led concerned citizens of Park City to take action. In 1991, they formed the Park City Conservation Association, now known primarily as Recycle Utah, to meet the area’s pressing need for recycling services. Recycle Utah made it their mission to collect recyclable materials, promote water conservation, and eventually create a zero-waste plan for Summit County.
Today, Recycle Utah prevents 200 tons of valuable materials from wasting in the local landfill every month. Over 50 different types of items are accepted to be reused, get recycled, or receive HAZMAT treatment. The facility is also a Center for Hard to Recycle Materials (CHaRM) center and diverts 1,748 tons of those materials from the landfill. That means Recycle Utah can help even with materials that basic recycling companies can’t. In this way, the drinking water of the Park City area is kept that much cleaner.
But Recycle Utah does more than work to help today—they work to keep increase the momentum for the future. Recycle Utah boasts an education program that helps local children envision the kind of world they would like to live in. Children from kindergarten to the fifth grade are taught about the importance of the earth’s resources, recycling, and working together. Over 500 fourth-graders learned about water conservation at the 2017 Water Festival. The goal is for these students, now well informed in environmental matters, to teach the rest of the community and take the lead in the fight for their future.
The only nonprofit recycling location in Utah, the Recycle Utah serves Wasatch and Summit counties and is open to the public. The facility gets visitors from several counties and all of its monetary support from members of the community. Much of Recycle Utah’s funds come from its four annual events, including the Earth Day Celebration April 22nd at the Wasatch Brew Pub. Recycle Utah also partners with Park City, Summit County, and organizations such as Utah Recycling Alliance to increase its outreach and educational messages.
There are plenty of things members of the community can do to help the cause of Recycle Utah. These include learning and teaching others what can be recycled at Recycle Utah’s facilities, cutting out single-use items such as grocery bags and coffee cups, volunteering, and donating. Go here to learn more or donate. As Recycle Utah likes to say, we are all in this together.