Tag Archives: recycling

New Clean Glass Recycling Facility Opens

Today marked the opening of the a brand new clean glass recycling facility in Salt Lake City. The facility, operated by Momentum Recycling, will process glass waste from Salt Lake City and other cities in Utah and beyond.

“We are very excited to help Utah increase glass recycling,” says Justin Mills, Plant Manager at Momentum Recycling. “This facility is only the second of its kind in the US, and it results in very high quality cullet for our customers. This drives demand for more cullet, which in turn drives demand for post-consumer glass, and allows us to make glass recycling affordable for many cities and counties in Utah that have never had glass recycling.”

Salt Lake City’s partnership with Momentum Recycling has moved the city forward with glass recycling – a top priority for both Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker and the City Council.

In November 2012, curbside glass recycling service was offered to roughly half of Salt Lake City households. The pilot project was an instant success, with thousands of households participating in the program. As of April 2013, the curbside program has expanded to offer a service to all city residents. Residents who would like to register for the voluntary program can do so at www.SLCGreen.com.

In attendance at today’s event were Salt Lake City Councilperson Jill Remington Love, Dan Velasquez with Salt Lake City Economic Development, members of the community and the entire Momentum Recycling staff. Every inch of the facility was on display, and a photo gallery from the event can be viewed on the SLCGreen Facebook page.

Salt Lake City Green was thrilled to be there to help celebrate this important step towards a more sustainable community!

SLC Schools Recycle!

Our friends at the Salt Lake City School District are leading the pack when it comes to school recycling.

Since 2009, Salt Lake City School District has recycled over 3.9 million pounds of paper and cardboard! By recycling that much paper, the district has saved over 30,000 trees, which is equal to over 6,400 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. To put it in terms that we can all visualize, that is like taking 1,258 cars off the road for one full year.

The district has reduced its landfill waste by over 1.5 million pounds per year through their recycling efforts. As a result, the district has reduced waste stream management expenses by more than 20%, keeping more taxpayer dollars in education and out of the trash. And that is something that we can all agree with.

Help your neighborhood school by recycling your paper!

Did you know? Schools earn money by recycling paper and cardboard. Since 2009, over $38,000 has been paid to schools, providing principals with a little extra discretionary spending money. Community members are encouraged to bring their paper recycling (only) to their neighborhood school GreenFiber container.

This is a great option for residents, especially those that live in multi-family units that do not offer on-site recycling.

Learn more

Learn more about the Salt Lake City School District’s recycling efforts on their new website. Information on their energy and water conservation efforts is forthcoming.

Report: Intermountain Sustainability Summit

Last week Sara Rose Tannenbaum with SLCGreen headed up to the Intermountain Sustainability Summit. Here is her first-hand account of her experience there:

At the Intermountain Sustainability Summit there were four session tracks to sample from or follow throughout the day. The one geared towards students engaged with the emerging Fossil Free Campus Divestment campaigns and explored how to pursue sustainability as a profession.

The other three session themes highlighted current issues and innovation within water, energy and recycling sustainability.

The Intermountain Sustainability Summit theme of recycling began even before setting foot into Weber State University’s Shepherd Union Building. Lining the pedestrian entrance to the conference was a veritable display of recyclables: not bins of beer cans or a cluttered collection of office papers, but huge blocks— bigger than 90 gallon recycle bins—of compressed cardboard, deflated plastic and squashed metal.This nonverbal presentation made transparent the usually unnoticed side of recycling. Just like we break down our cardboard, it’s important to dissect and try on the many dimensions and disciplines of sustainability.

Keynote speaker L. Hunter Lovins (pictured above) made the case for innovation and sustainability from a business perspective. Lisa Skumatz, an economist, used statistical analysis to highlight efficiency of cost-effective approaches to recycling. It was the variety of perspectives present at the Intermountain Sustainability Summit that made it a valuable learning and networking experience. We’re lucky to have so many exciting initiatives, businesses and leaders fighting on the green front.

Check out some great photos from last week’s event.

The Code Revision Project

Several years ago, Salt Lake City embarked on a ground-breaking initiative to incorporate sustainability provisions into zoning and subdivision ordinances. The project set out to revise and expand upon existing ordinances that were out of date and/or put up barriers to sustainable city practices.

The topic areas considered include:

Transit-Oriented and Mixed Use Development (Ordinance adopted)
Urban Agriculture (Ordinances adopted)
Renewable Energy (Ordinances adopted)
Accessory Dwelling Units (Ordinance adopted)
Street, Pedestrian and Bicycle Connectivity
Water Efficient Landscape
Tree Protection
Recycling and Waste Reduction
Transportation Demand Management
Outdoor Lighting

Several ordinances have already been adopted by the Salt Lake City Council, with a the rest making progress along the approval process. Get a complete update on the project on the SLCGreen website.

Questions? Let us know!

Intermountain Sustainability Summit

Next Thursday, February 28^th, hundreds of Utahns will flock to Ogden to take part in the 4^th Annual Intermountain Sustainability Summit.

The Intermountain Sustainability Summit 2013 is a premier event providing exceptional educational programs, networking, and trade show opportunities for government representatives, sustainability, energy, and solid waste professionals, students, politicians and interested public.

Sessions will be broken out into three topic areas:

Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy and Achieving Carbon Neutrality
Water Conservation, Quality and Management
Recycling and Waste Reduction and Elimination

Keynote speaker is L. Hunter Lovins, president and founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions (NCS). NCS educates senior decision makers in business, government and civil society about the principles of sustainability, and shows how to restore and further enhance natural and human capital while increasing prosperity and quality of life.

Registration is still open for this fantastic local sustainability event. Don’t miss out on a great opportunity to learn, share and network with other Utahns working towards a more sustainable future.

Be social: RSVP to the Facebook event.

Residents Embrace Curbside 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?