Sustainability is a core value of Park City and Summit County. Much has been made of the shift to EVs, carbon offsets and other more ephemeral measures to assure that we minimize our footprint on the local environment.
A far more tangible and manageable measure is the local recycling effort. Unlike our peer mountain towns that divert over 30% of solid waste from landfills to recycling, in total, residents and businesses in Summit County redirect less than 13% from landfills via recycling.
Not only is this a black eye for us from an environmental perspective, it will but it will also hit us in our pocketbooks before long. The county landfill has a limited life and capacity. Once that capacity is consumed, solid waste will require the construction of a new transfer station, where waste from our local trucks will be collected and loaded onto bigger trucks for shipment to a landfill outside the county. These modifications will required capital expenditures and produce increased operating costs.
But it’s worse than that! As has been reported in the press, Recycle Utah is being required to vacate its current site in Park City by mid-2026. Unless negotiations with Park City and Summit County come to a quick and successful conclusion, there is a distinct possibility that Recycle Utah’s citizen-led recycling will not be available, further increasing the amount of solid waste sent to the landfill. More solid waste will shorten the landfill’s life span even further.
Non-profit, volunteer-staffed Recycle Utah has a 34-year record of managing Park City and Summit County’s recyclable waste efficiently and cost-effectively.
Does any taxpayer believe that government can collect and process our recyclable waste at a lower cost? The Park City Municipal Council is scheduled to take up the issue at its June 12 meeting, and the county and Park City are scheduled to address the future of recycling later in June in a joint session.
We encourage all who hold sustainability and economic efficiency as core values to get up to speed on these issues and support the increasing need for recycling in our community.
Fritz Edelstein
Snyders Mill
Ari Ioannides
Wanship
Patrick O’Connell
Lower Deer Valley
Jack Rubin
Park Meadows