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Show opie reas WASATCH COUNTY COURIER MARCH 14, 2001 aE Local’s Recycling Mission Mounts gathering two truckloads—two tons— monthly. She charges $10 per month for pick-up. In fact, residents do not been transmandatory. When they they find a said Clegg. “You see all these garbage cans full. It is a shame that all that stuff tons daily, and approximately 20 percent Thanks to the efforts of one local service. “I’m glad she’s doing it: It sure helps. I wish there was more recycling done, but we have limited resources,” woman, Kristine Wylie, the county and the Earth are a whole lot healthier. ‘Four years ago, the Minneapolis transplant decided something needed Curbside Recycling accepts nearly ‘to be done about the lack of services in all mail products, the county and she founded Wasatch Curbside Recycling, a one-truck, mostly one-woman company. “T was ‘standing knee deep in milk newspaper, office paper, glass, tin and ~“Y boughta used bread truck, converted it and sent out a flier. A bunch of people signed up.” Wylie’s customer list has grown frém''40 to’ 150 people, and she said they are ecstatic. Four days weekly, at 8 a. mM... her § green van follows a route, cardboard, plastics, aluminum. Wylie said residents can fur- PHOTO bottles in my laundry room and decided somebody needs to do something about this. I was frustrated the county didn’t provide it,” said Wylie, speaking quietly and attempting to keep her rambunctious dog and cat from waking her sleeping baby. © COURTESY KRISTINE WYLIE Kristine Wylie’ Ss truck recycles two tons monthly. way to do it,” Wylie said. “I just wish it was included in our garbage service. I'd is going into our environment.” like to see blue bins out everywhere. county A few critics have asked Wylie if she is “cashing in” or just dumping the products at the landfill. She said she makes hardly any money, donates program, but was told it is “quite a ways down the road” because they do waste Utah to Summit and doesn’t County’s bring Recycle recyclable items to the landfill. “I’m not doing this for money. Thisis not my dream job. Wylie said she has spoken with the about beginning a recycling not want to charge all residents—even those that.don’t recycle—for the services. Most counties include a recycling fee in the garbage collection bill. ther the protection of the environment by “turning away when products aren’t packaged in a recyclable container.” Wylie spends a few hours each morning picking up the bins, lifting and hauling a lot of weight before: she begins her full-time job as a grant writer for a Park City non-profit organization. But she is determined. “We still need to do it because it saves our Earth’s natural resources, If we. keep using them and using,them -and using them, it'll all be gone,” said the crusader, St Four years ago, the Wasatch County Public Works Department requested ox FEC breed email: kirsten @wasatchcountycourier.com ss . = BB, ~ $335,000, PREMIER REA rs ER ‘public apathy—it all went to waste. tS get charged hundreds of dollars, Said public works’ Valerie Cummings. She said. Wylie’s success is due to an increased population of ‘those. who recycle in the county and the curbside or ht A due to lack, of pick-up services te throw trash in the cardboard and we’d is recyclable, but for years—whether RAE 45 of interested people have planted from places that it’s They ve got it bred in them. come to a place they can’t, ernment’s list of priorities. Years ago, the county.collected recycling, but a lack of equipment and costly mistakes by the public led to the programs demise. The county. has neither a recycling truck nora: plastic bailer. It requested a West- Valley City recycling company, BFI, position a trailer in Wasatch County, but the com_ pany declined. | ee oe “We tried before, but people would tE pee. gathers ‘how do I do this? Tell me more.’ A lot the funding is low on the federal. gov- aaa Wasatch County a luxury He ‘ing land during warmer months. materials, OE rancid aromas rising off the swelter- sort at contaminants seeping into the soil, to 2 ARTE ON gathers in Duchesne landfill, have unavailable to most around the world. “I get stopped daily and people say, $150,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund trucks and recycling bin trailers, but the coufity said PREVIEWS EXCEPTIONAL PROPERTY| 1685 E. 1950 N Nop UM NEL) et A itn cL housands of ‘tons of garbage I’m doing this for a cause. ” She said. Dennis Clegg has been on Curbside’s route for more than two years, and he is pleased with the service, although he wishes it were expanded—or taken over by the county. “I’ve always recycled. I suspect more people would like to recycle. Boy, it sure would be a good thing,” * KIRSTEN SHAW COURIER STAFF |