Utah Recycling Sluggish

[stefan]

Utah Recycling Sluggish
By Michelle Lizon
- 19 Feb 2008
NewsNet - News from the Y

http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/67504




George Goddard, one of Utah's first recyclers in the 1800s, went door-to-door collecting rags that would be turned into paper and used for issues of the Deseret News. Although he was fairly successful, many residents stood in their narrow doorways empty-handed. They had creative ways of telling him "no," so Goddard began to record their responses.

"I'm too economical to have any - I make all my rags into carpets," "You give so little for them, it don't pay for the soap and trouble of washing them" and "Call next week, I've got a big sack full, but I'm too busy whitewashing to look after rags now."

Many Utah residents still fall into some of these categories today. Some recycle, some say they don't have the money or the time, while still others have never thought twice before tossing their cans into the trash.

As more Americans become environmentally conscious, Utah lags far behind many states in the percentage of waste recycled by its residents.

Utah generates around 3,760,000 tons of waste per year. Only about 19 percent of that is recycled, while the rest is dumped into more than 60 growing landfills that dot the state.

But no government department in Utah is keeping track of how much is recycled, since state law does not require it, and the EPA only has records that are voluntarily submitted.

However, Zero Waste America did collect the data. What is Zero Waste America? In their most recent report they discovered how much states recycle, while considering factors such as waste created, imported and exported and population. They ranked Utah as the state with the fifth worst waste management in the United States.

Recycling only costs about $5 per month, so why aren't Utahans as green-savvy as residents from states like New Jersey or Washington that recycle nearly half of their waste each year?

Although policy varies from city to city in Utah, most do not offer recycling services nor require them, leaving the responsibility up to citizens. Utah's Department of Environmental Quality is only responsible for administering recycling programs for two items - tires and used oil.

Like Utah, recycling is not mandatory in all of Washington's cities either, but the state does have intensive programs to motivate its citizens and keep track of the state's waste trail from start to finish. Government employees cover specific areas, ranging from plastics to aluminum, with several people focused solely on educating schools about recycling.

In many of Utah's cities, there is no government representative or program to advertise the recycling of non-hazardous waste or evaluate if it's happening.

With citizens' lack of enthusiasm for the three R's, many private organizations and recycling activists in Utah are bent on showing people the pros of recycling and the cons of tossing everything in a bag for the garbage truck.

Last summer, Nathalie Staffler, a BYU student in the clincial social work master's program, went door-to-door to encourage Provo residents to recycle, much like Utah's first recycler.

"We found out that people are either not aware there is recycling available, or they think it is expensive to recycle - a myth," Staffler said. "It only costs $5 per month. With a household of six people, that represents not even a dollar per person per month."

Residents can sign-up for curbside recycling in many of Utah's cities through private companies such as Waste Management. In places like Provo and Orem residents can pay for a 90-gallon can to throw most of their recyclable items into. They don't have to sort it and it's usually emptied every other week.

If more residents started recycling, the benefits could even flow into more jobs for the state. It takes far more hands to recycle cans, paper, plastics and other trash than it does to bury it. Landfilling 10,000 tons of waste creates only six jobs, while recycling the same amount of waste creates 36 jobs, according to Earth 911, a national environmental resource.

Recycling also helps ease the strain on natural resources. Americans are throwing away about 42 million newspapers each day, while at the same time nearly two million trees are being cut down in the United States each day.

"Each town has the potential to become more sensitive and respectful toward the land that hosts them," Staffler said. "There must be a mutual give and take between humans and Mother Earth."

[packfish]

Cache County is getting much better. I know my recycling can and all my neighbors seems to be full every pick up week. They don't get my beer cans though.

[JP]

Wow, that's strange. We've been recycling here for over 20 years. Trash pick up for me is every Wednesday morning, so Tuesday nights is Garbage Eve Every other Wednesday is recycling, everybody has a blue bin in which the recyclables are put into. A different truck picks up the recyclables. I think nothing of it since this program has been around for so long.

[fourtycal]

[quote="JP"] We've been recycling here for over 20 years.[quote]

At home I was issued a recycle bin about 5 years ago with the same kind of program. It is way more simple to seperate than I would have guessed, it has become automatic.

What gets me is at work. Our California store just chucks its extra cardboard or pallets out back and it dissapears (recyclers come get it), here for cardboard we have to crush it, bail it and have a full truckload just to get a recycle company to come pick it up. We can get rid of plastics if they are cut up and we deliver them. We pay a company to pick up paper (and shred it) Is it really that unprofitable for recycling companies?

[JP]

It is way more simple to seperate than I would have guessed, it has become automatic.

Ain't that the truth

[CarpeyBiggs]

Yep, we are way behind the times on recycling here. Provo doesn't offer much in the way of recycling. You have to drop off stuff at public containers, or make your way to private recycling facilities.

Costs too much money to operate. At least, that's the rumor.

[JP]

I know our garbage pick up is part of our taxes. I'm sure the recycling is too, but I'm sure they're are grants and other governmental monies thrown at recycling.

[Jaxx]

Just ordered my recycle bin to be delivered I thought it was more expensive, but it's only $5 a month

[sparker1]

I support re-cycling efforts, but have always wondered why it really costs more. The suppliers (us) clean and separate the containers, the collector takes them to a place that pays $ per pound. Our homeless guys collect cans and make drinking money, so it seems to be profitable. Our scouts used to collect newspapers and made a profit, why isn't it profitable for the re-cycler?
At one time, we had to actually take our stuff to a central collection point, so it was less popular. Home pick-up increases participation significantly.