The rules of recycling are ever changing. We had McKenna Tupai, sustainability coordinator for Wasatch Front Waste and Recycling District, on City Cast Salt Lake to help us understand what can and can’t be tossed in the blue bin.
♻️ What happens to the stuff we put in the blue recycling bin?
“We pick it up from your curb and take it to one of the local material recovery facilities. There are two in the valley. There's the waste management one and then Rocky Mountain Recycling. There they sort it and bale it and then they take out anything that wasn't supposed to be in there, which is basically garbage, for the landfill. The baled recyclables that are accepted get sold across North America, mostly to recycling processing centers. There is where they will be chopped up, melted, cleaned, and turned into new pellets to be sold to whatever company wants to buy them.”
♻️ If we accidentally put something non-recyclable in the recycling bin, is it all a wash?
“No. That is a common myth that we hear. Only things that have been touched by something like food or green waste become garbage. So, for example, if somebody throws a can of tomatoes in there and it gets all over paper or a piece of cardboard, only the paper or cardboard that the tomatoes got on will go to the landfill. And usually it only affects paper products. So if that can of tomato got on a plastic bottle, the plastic bottle should be fine.”
♻️ What do we do with the hard to recycle stuff like remote controls and mattresses?
“There are a lot of private companies that do recycling for hard to recycle materials. Best Buy will take a lot of electronics. They have some limitations. And then there are some private companies Spring Back Utah, they do mattress recycling, so there are options. We offer some information on resources and locations on our website.”
Listen to the full episode below 👇
