Introduction to Recycling

How many times have you been drinking some bottled water and when you finish you just throw out the bottle, even though you know that it is a recycable material? But why do we just toss out what we could be recyling? Is it because there was not a recycling bin close by or because we don't think just one plastic bottle will make a difference or perhaps it's just because there is no policy saying you have to, so why do something we're not required to?

In a recently published book Utah ranked 42nd in recycling rates in America. We as the citizens of Utah need to do something about this. Recycling is an important part of preserving our environment. Here is some current information concerning recycling in Utah:

• Curbside recycling is not currently available in Utah except in a recently implemented program in Woods Cross. For the rest of us there are several private companies that do offer this service for a larger fee. If this program was brought to Utah it would cost each house hold approxiametly $5. People have been complaining that they are already paying too much to the government, so these programs have not been implemented.


• It is estimated that loggers in America cut down 2 million trees everyday, but we're throwing out about 42 million newspapers a day! This doesn't make sense. Why not re-use what we already have?


• Most of the laws and regulations that Utah has concerning the environment deal with clean air acts and regulation of waste plants, which are all good things. But, we need to now start expanding our focus on preserving the resources that we have here.

Look at that soda can you're drinking from. Does it say "5C refund OR ME CT" and many other states? Several states have implemented this state wide recycling program that that rewards consumers for recycling water, soda, or beer cans that are returned to a vendor. The consumer recieves 5 to 10 cents for every can that they turn in. This has been shown to be an effective method of recycling promotion in several states. Would it be beneficial to implement a similar program in Utah?

Recycling is part of the "going green" movement right now, but Utah is ranked in the bottom 10 states according to how much we recycle per year. We are behind the times. The purpose of this project is to understand why people do not recycle in Utah and then start removing the obstacles that are found. Please share your opinion throughout this blog. What do you think of current recycling conditions in Utah?