Help Us Celebrate National Waste & Recycling Workers Week!
June 16-24th marks this year’s Waste and Recycling Workers Week! These essential workers keep Salt Lake City clean and sustainable, rain or shine (even through the pandemic, earthquake, and wind storm!) every weekday of the year except for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.
Our Waste & Recycling Division does some of the most time-sensitive, important work in the entire city! There’s all kinds of things you probably didn’t know about this crucial City division, such as:
- Salt Lake City services more than 42,000 households, emptying garbage, recycling and compost bins every week.
- Each daily collection driver empties between 600 to 900 bins — about 20,000 pounds — of waste, compost, or recycling EVERY DAY! Can you imagine what the city would look like if they weren’t on the job?
- Next time you’re at an event like the Pride parade or the Utah Arts Festival (happening this weekend by the way!), please think about our team’s hard work to keep those events clean and running smoothly — and give them a thanks if you see them! 👋🏽 In 2024, Salt Lake City Waste & Recycling serviced more than 4,000 garbage and recycling containers used at 105 special events!
- Salt Lake City prioritizes safety and we’re proud of our safety record, but did you know waste and recyclable materials collectors regularly rank among the top five most dangerous jobs in the nation? So next time you see one of our trucks, please give them room to work! (🎥 Watch our quick safety reminder here.)
- Did you know we also offer bulk waste collection for many things that don’t fit or shouldn’t go in your curbside bin (like tires or electronic waste)? Our Call 2 Haul program is specially designed for exactly this! Residential waste customers receive up to two collections per year as part of their monthly service fee. Last year, that small team collected 1,407 tons of bulk waste and 228 tons of recycled materials. Need something big picked up? Sign up on our website here!
- Our brown compost cans, which are included in your monthly garbage service fee, aren’t just for leaves and yard waste. You can also put fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, and eggshells in your brown bins! This will be composted into rich, reusable soil at the Salt Lake Valley Landfill that is available for sale, even in quantities as small as a 5-gallon bucket for $1!
- If you’re wondering what those City workers are doing checking your recycling and compost cans, they’re there to help educate residents on what goes in what bin! For instance, we regularly talk to residents or leave notes letting them know not to put plastic bags in their recycling bins, or reminding that glass doesn’t go in the blue bins. (FYI, here’s a list of what’s allowed in your recycling bin. 🤓 Guess what’s not allowed? You guessed it, plastic bags and glass.)
We are so grateful and appreciate our crews for all that they do and for their tireless dedication to keeping Salt Lake City clean. Pitch in and show your appreciation by making sure to sort your recycling properly, use your brown can to compost properly, and by making sure to put your containers 3 feet apart to help our crews during pick-up. You can also leave a voicemail at 801-535-6999, send an email, or be sure to wave at your operator or education team as they drive by!