Category Archives: Recycling & Waste

We ♥ Compost

WeHeartCompostSeriously. We do.

The ability to take a large segment of Salt Lake City’s waste, prevent it from filling up our landfill, and then use it to make gardens thrive, is a miraculous thing in our eyes.

Composting is nature’s way of recycling. You can turn fruit, veggies, grass, branches and leaves into dark, crumbly and sweet-smelling soil amendment. It saves you money by lowering your garbage bill (switch to a smaller waste bin and save) and helps you avoid purchasing expensive commercial fertilizers.

Salt Lake City residents have two great options – curbside compost or home composting.

Curbside Compost: Also known as the yard waste program, or the tan can, curbside composting is made easy with a 90 gallon bin picked up weekly. Currently the tan can is “vegan” – meaning it only accepts green waste. The wheels are in motion to expand curbside composting to accept more forms of food waste, so stay tuned! In the meantime, maximize your curbside bin with tea bags and coffee grounds.

Home Compost: Enjoy the spoils of your composting efforts at home! Build your own composting bin and watch your garden thrive. More home composting tips.

With two easy ways to get the job done, we bet you will ♥ compost too!

seedling

Residents Embrace Curbside Glass Recycling

Glass Recycling

Last fall, Salt Lake City unveiled a program that promised to be an instant hit with Salt Lake City residents: curbside glass recycling.

For a $6 monthly fee, residents receive a 35 gallon recycling bin exclusively for glass, eliminating the need to haul glass to drop off sites and making it easier for all residents to recycle their glass waste.

We are now three months into the program, and the response has been great! Over 1,400 residents have subscribed to the first phase of the project (State Street to 2200 East, city limits south and north, plus the Avenues and Capitol Hill).

The response has been so positive that the curbside program will go citywide this April! If you live west of State Street or east of 2200 East, make sure to sign up to receive your bin (you will need your water bill account number).

About 130 tons of glass is now being recycled per month in the city, a number that is expected to increase when phase two rolls out this spring.

Residents are impressed with the curbside service provided by Salt Lake City contractor Momentum Recycling. We heard from one subscriber who couldn’t believe that their glass bin was picked up, on time, during the height of the January snowstorms:

@dougums1979: Glass recycle bin stuck behind snowbank & not full so I didn’t place on curb. SLC picked it up anyway! Impressed! 

What is your experience with the curbside glass program?