Recycling is one of the prime reasons that our planet, as we know and love it, is still in existence. That being said, why is it that some places in Park City do not provide this service of recycling while other do?

Everyone knows recycling is beneficial, but the extent of its impacts are more dramatic than most realize. Recycling a single aluminium can help to save a great deal of energy. Through this simple act, enough energy is being saved to run one’s television for up to three hours. On a larger scale, one ton of recycled paper can save  up to 17 trees. Recycling saves money, resources, and eliminates waste and pollution so it’s no wonder that the popular saying ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ is a lesson taught worldwide to all ages. However, engraving this into the minds of our youth is useless if they are not equipped with the appropriate resources to take action.

Recycle Utah, a growing group of committed Park City citizens, has made it their mission to solve the lack of community-wide opportunities in terms of recycling. Their website lists the successes of their environmental educators, one of them being their visits to 3,000 elementary school children throughout Summit and Wasatch Counties every year. Their efforts have drastically impacted Park City as a whole, but are ineffective toward those who live in Newpark  and other areas that do not provide this service. Only certain neighborhoods in the community, including Jeremy Ranch, Bear Hollow, and Silver Springs, present their residents with the chance to become involved and give back to the planet.

Park City as a community is very committed to becoming energy efficient. Vehicles are not permitted to sit idling for over one minute within city limits and the city is abundant with local environmental groups such as Build Green Utah, Clean Air Park City, and Recycle Utah. One thing that has been emphasized this year in particular is the conservation of water. Typically, winters in Park City bring ample amounts of snow, but other winters and this one specifically, the snowfall has been barely enough to put a thin coat on the slopes. Citizens have been encouraged to be aware of their water use as it helps to lessen the threat of future water shortages. All these ideas and organizations are contributing to the planet’s wellbeing, but perhaps the most noticeable move Park City has made was the addition of the zero-emission, battery-electric transit busses last year.

Park City is seemingly leading the way to a cleaner, safer future. The introduction of these pollution-free busses has created new jobs, tax revenue, and saved clean fuel. With the bus fleet, the city’s goal is to become completely carbon-neutral by 2032. The city has spent a whopping 3.9 million dollars on the purchase of these busses, yet recycling is still unavailable to a number of citizens. If the city is willing to pour millions of dollars into these busses, they need to express an comparable amount of consideration to the equally relevant issue of recycling. .

Hopefully, in the future, the city will implement a plan that offers recycling to everyone. But, for the moment, you can do your part by recycling this newspaper once you finish reading.

What’s your angle? What should Park City actually do, or is considering doing, to address this issue?