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Show WASATCH MOUNTAIN TIMES yoming RECYCLING is ii Weirder Than IN UTAH Our Liquor Laws? Shows pride in organizations ive in by continuously donating a portion of our profits to: Wild Lands, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Sierra Club that protect the world we We hope you take a vested interest in your surroundings by making The Wasatch Mountain Times an important part of your mountain lifestyle. Wyoming Woolens 518 Historic Main ¢ Park City, Utah & Jackson Hole Wyoming 801-645-9427 Wyomine Weac Glass, waiting and waiting to be recycled at the Recycling Corporation of 7 JACKSON ¢ HOLE, UBA America. n Utah, recycling is now easier Bits it ever has been. Still, some pass a so-called “bottle bill” or other legislation Unless you live in Sandy or Salt Lake City-proper, recycling your newspaper, plastic milk jugs and glass beer bottles might not be all that easy. Why? Two reasons: Utah is distant from west coast markets for recyclables — shipping costs make it more expensive to recycle here than in places like California. But perhaps more importantly, there is almost no public policy for recycling in the Beehive State. There are some notable exceptions to this, but they are few and far between. Just imagine, for example, the mess if there, was no public policy on garbage. As it turns out, there are more rules, laws and public policy on garbage than just about anything else. So what's happened to recycling? Yes, it’s true, you see Gov. Mike Leavitt plugging recycling with KUTV anchor Terry Wood on local TV. They are cheering recycling through an outfit called Utah Recycles (not to be confused with ‘Utah Recycling). But as it turns out, Utah Recycles is the brain child of the Utah Soft Drink Association — an organization dedicated to making sure the Utah Legislature doesn't governing Confused mighty strange things are happening. containers. yet? There’s curbside more. Two years Valley Landfill ago, the Salt Lake raised its dumping rates a ton from $13 to $19 a ton. The landfill is jointly owned and operated by Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County governments. The increased rate brings an extra $6 million a year to the landfill. The city gets $1.75 million, the county get $1.75 million and the landfill keeps $2 million for indemnity purposes, and the other $500,000 goes to the City/County Health Department. Wr: the fee was increased, over public protestations, city and county officials said the increase would fund recycling and recycling education. But where has the money gone? Salt Lake City is using the money for trees but says it might go to curbside recycling next year. Salt Lake County is using the money for... well, no one knows for sure, except that there are plans for a solid waste transfer station, where recycling might take place. Two years and $7 million later, we haven’t made much gain in public recycling in City or County government. There is a bright side to all this: In Sandy, all residents must pay for 2 recycling, use it or not. That ed by a ballot jointly by BFI Corporation whether operation, they initiat- referendum, is run and the Recycling of America. The partic- ipation rate is very high at 65-to-70 percent. andy residents made it easy on ccs by imposing public policy when their elected officials refused. Another bright spot is Salt Lake City’s curbside program. Instituted three years ago and operated by Utah Recycling, it remains successful and serves about 10 percent of the households within the city limits. Curbside recycling in the city is voluntary and service costs participants about $8 a month extra. When the landfill rate was increased, Salt Lake City officials said the money would make curbside available to all city households at no charge. That, of course, has not happened yet. John Sasine, the general manager at Utah Recycling, says he isn't sure what happened to that plan. Utah Recycling’s curbside program does not accept glass, Sasine explained, because handling and shipping costs are high compared to what California mills will pay for the commodity. PAGE.13 Ss" there are no regulations goy- erning recycling, Utah Recycling is free not to recycle glass. Presently, the distant market does not offer enough incentive to pay for the costly investment necessary to handle glass, Sasine added. But Sasine notes that prices for plastic and paper are very high, making recycling of those commodities more profitable than ever. He says Utah Recycling has drop-off bins throughout Salt Lake Valley for those who don’t have curbside service. Rainer Dahl, the president of Corporation of Recycling says his company does recycle glass. “It’s difficult but not impossible.” Dahl says he has a market for glass closer than the west coast, but it is somewhat limited. “We still have a big pile of glass. But we sell 200 tons of it each month... we get it in about as fast as it goes The America, out.” Dahl agrees with Sasine, however, that the past 12-months have been the best of times for recyclers in Utah. “We have made up for some of the loses we’ve had to endure in ..the past years . .. It looks like we'll ~ be able to stay in business a while longer,” he said. @ |
