The Green Generation

Recycling is infectious. When one person in a neighborhood starts recycling it usually catches on. One important way to change the policies Utah has towards recycling is to help the younger generation become more friendly to recycling.

This can be done by teaching your children to recycle at home, or supporting recycling programs at local schools. Cartridges for Kids (CFK) is a recycling company that pays schools and non-profit organizations for recycling. They are currently running a "Spring has Sprung" activity where for each item a child brings in to recycle the get to "plant" a paper flower on their classroom wall. This is fun for children because they not only get to decorate with bright flowers everywhere, but it also allows them to see how much of what they use can be recycled. This program helps the children to understand that they can make a difference when they recycle. To find out more about how to set up a recycling program at your local school visit the Green Choices Utah website.

Another great resource I found for helping children to get involved in recycling is a book called "Why Should I Recycle?" by Jen Green. This book it distributed by Scholastic Books and explains the fundamentals of recycling at the level of a child. In the back of the book, discussion questions are also listed for parents to talk with their children about recycling.

Also, just a reminder that Earth Day 2009 is coming up on April 22nd. This is a great time to start a new commitment to recycling. Visit EarthDayNetwork to find out more about the campaign for the 2009 Earth Day. It is good to recognize the importance of recycling on Earth Day, but the best thing that can be done is to carry the Earth Day values throughout the whole year.

Bottle Bills

Bottle bills require a minimum refundable deposit on all plastic and glass bottles that are purchased. Although Utah does not have any bottle bills at the moment they have been shown to be effective in other states such as Maine and California. These bills are effective because they shift the responsibility for packaging the bottle from the taxpayer to the producers and consumers (see figure 1). To find out more about how bottle bills work click here.

Figure 1

The video clip below is from CNN.com and explains one way of recycling plastic bottles.

CNN video

Reuse: One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure

I came across a great site for finding the recycling programs that are available in your area. Visit local.com to find out what companies recycle which materials near you.

The Environmental Protection Agency has a waste management hierarchy that encourages us to reduce, reuse, recycle. It is important for us not to forget the reuse part of this hierarchy. There are many things around your house that you can reuse. Some ideas are: wash out and use butter tubs as Ziploc containers for left overs, the back of already used paper makes great scratch paper, use kiddie pool water for watering your plants, rinse out and use plastic water bottles over again, and many more...be creative! If you don't have or can't find a use for some old items try a swapping website. These let you trade the cds, books, movies, video games, etc. that you don't want anymore with other members who have materials that you are interested in. These can be really beneficial because not only are they giving you the tools to reuse instead of trash old possessions, but you can also find items that you actually want.

If swapping isn't for you, before you throw something in the trash try selling it on eBay or craigslist. You can make some money and help out the environment!

Hard Handouts to Easy Emails

The other day I was reading the BYU newspaper "The Daily Universe" and I ran across an interesting letter to the editor. The writer expressed their frustration with people always waving flyers in their face and shoving them into their hands. This seems like such a pointless promotion method when all the person does is throw away the flyer six feet later. This letter brings up an important point regarding recycling. Is there a better way to advertise without wasting so much paper?

Many schools are switching over to e-mail alerts as well as online grading instead of sending paper handouts home with the students. This switch is not only good for the environment, but is also much more cost effective for the schools. It could benefit more schools as well as other establishments, such as city governments, to look into switching to online information distribution.


Many programs such as emailbrain help the costumer design effective marketing materials that are distributed through email. This is not only a more environmental friendly way of advertising, but is also often more interactive and eye-catching because of the range of graphic options available.


Although many places have adopted this technique there are still more than enough flyers being passed out. If you find yourself with a handful of flyers you're not interested in, at least look for a paper recycling bin!

Curbside recycling

Spanish Fork, Utah is launching a curbside recycling program this June! While this program will cost those that sign up $6-7 per month, the Spanish Fork City website is quick to point out that not recycling also costs us. Since recycling is a program handled by city government it is important to contact your city leaders about instigating a recycling program in your city. Other cities in Utah that currently have a curbside recycling program are: Salt Lake City, South Jordan, Lindon, Saratoga Springs, Highland, American Fork, and Sandy.

Also, check out this site. Citizens of Davis County petitioned for curbside recycling and it was instigated last year!

Advocate for Recycling!

According to the Deseret News in 2008 Utah recycled just 2.7% of the 24 million tons of trash created! But here's the twist, 87% of Utahans participating in a survey conducted by The Utah Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste said that they thought recycling was important. And 89% thought that their cities should have a recycling program. So why with all this support of recycling is Utah only re-using 2.7% of the trash? Because most communities do not make recycling programs easily available!
If we think that recycling is so important then lets tell someone about it. Advocate! Talk to your community leaders, to your neighbors, even to your family. Let people know that recycling is an important issue to you and that something needs to be done to make it accessible to you. According to the survey recycling is important to the majority of Utah residents, so if everyone speaks up how can you be ignored?