Here in our ski community, we were alarmed when we learned that toxic chemicals called PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) were detected in our drinking water.

Researchers have found them nearly everywhere. When it was verified that PFAS are ingredients in some alpine and Nordic ski waxes, Park City took action. Recycle Utah alerted ski shops and consumers to bring any fluoro-waxes they were using to the center for safe disposal and to choose safer alternatives. PFAS waxes were banned at all FIS ski and snowboard events starting in the 2023-24 season.

PFAS break down in the environment over hundreds of years or not at all — thus, their description as “forever chemicals.”

Because they accumulate in the environment over time and have been found to be toxic in notably low concentrations, scientists are increasingly interested in finding out how different PFAS affect animal and human health.

And now, they have been able to link PFAS to altered immune and thyroid function, liver disease, lipid and insulin dysregulation, kidney disease, and adverse reproductive and developmental outcomes such as low infant birth weight and cancer.

It turns out that PFAS are used in the manufacture of a wide range of industrial and consumer products, including some dental flosses, especially those marketed as “Teflon” strands, and those with non-stick coatings that “glide” easily between teeth.

Since 2023, 12 states have implemented laws that restrict or ban all PFAS.

In 2019, an important study at Harvard was published to get a clearer idea of how people absorb PFAS. Researchers in the study found that a large group of female subjects who daily used Oral B Glide Dental Floss, known to contain a specific PFAS, had higher levels of it in their blood than those who did not.

In discussing findings, a Harvard reviewer noted, “Although conventional non-stick pans have a larger surface, “we don’t chew on them like dental floss.” (P. Grandjean, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Buzzfeed, January 2019).

There are alternatives to dental floss coated with “forever chemicals.” Some options include unwaxed floss; silk, bamboo, and plant-waxed floss; Tom’s of Maine floss; and Listerine Ultraclean Waxed Mint Dental Floss. Researchers advise not buying floss marketed by Colgate, Crest, CVS, Oral-B, and Signature.

Recycle Utah, your community non-profit drop-off recycling center, provides these weekly tips. Visit their website for more information – www.recycleutah.org.

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Are you vacation planning? Wherever you go, don’t forget to bring along the great, eco-friendly behaviors you’ve incorporated into your daily life — those that reduce your waste and use of natural resources and protect the environment. These practices are just as important to the people and places you visit as they are in your home community.

When choosing your vacation destination, how far are you going? Driving there by car — especially a hybrid or EV — emits far less carbon than a jet, and cruise ships can emit 3-4 times more carbon than jets. If you fly, try to book direct flights, since 50% of jet emissions happen during takeoff and landing. Think about traveling by train. This is the most ecologically-friendly way to travel, with 50-75% lower per-person carbon emissions than driving or flying as reported by Amtrak and Eurail.

So what are your sustainable vacation destination options?

• Nothing has lower carbon emissions than a staycation. When it comes to staying home, Summit and Wasatch counties are quite fine vacation options. Instead of waiting for guests to see local “destination-caliber” sites, visit them on less-busy, less-expensive weekdays on your staycation. Check out onlyinyourstate.com/states/utah and subscribe to their excellent and free newsletter. You will have more choices than days of vacation.
• Research locations that publicize their efforts to provide a greener, cleaner environment and quality of life for their inhabitants. Are there agencies dedicated to providing sustainable services? Are natural and cultural sites well-protected? Some locations receive certifications and awards for their sustainability pledges. For example, each year the European Commission awards a European city the Green Capital and Green Leaf Award.
• Choose to spend time at “second city and park” locations instead of joining the mass of tourists in a vacation hotspot. This way, you can still visit major attractions without contributing as much to over-tourism and pollution. Camp at lesser-known state parks and national forest campgrounds and visit a popular national park for the day.
• Stay in a town or village near a major attraction. You’ll experience a more authentically local visit and contribute to a smaller economy.
• Visit locations off-peak when energy and natural resource demands are less. You’ll stimulate local economic growth and provide additional work hours for otherwise seasonally employed workers.

Recycle Utah, your community non-profit drop-off recycling center, provides these weekly tips. Visit their website for more information at recycleutah.org.

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Is it necessary to rinse off dirty dishes before putting them in the dishwasher to assure they are clean and bacteria-free? Resoundingly, experts say, it is not. The practice wastes water and energy; it adds dollars to our utility bills.

Many of us who continue to lightly rinse gunky dishes first may be living in the past. In the past, it was recommended to rinse excess food off dishes before loading them. I don’t think using a little more water and electricity was forefront in people’s minds.

Today energy-efficient machines use a mere four to six gallons of water to clean a load of dishes. Obviously, if we’re trying to live sustainably — to not waste ever-more limited natural resources — we need to “fill ‘er up.” What things make sense to run full loads with best results?

• Reportedly, dishwashing detergent works best when it has some food particles to stick to. Without them, soap runs off dishes and ends up down the drain. Also, today’s machines are made to work hard — to power through soiled gunky dishes. We shouldn’t let them get lazy and work with less power than they have built in.
• Getting a full load doesn’t always happen daily or even every other day. If necessary, soiled dishes can sit in the dishwasher for a few days — one source stated for a week — and come out sparkling. Here’s where a quick light rinse makes sense. Small households, rest assured. Your dishes can be cleaned after extended “sit” time.
• To all dishwasher users, you are responsible for cleaning the drain filter regularly.

Hand-washing dishes? Try this eco-friendly method: Add a bit of dishwashing detergent to a clean sink. In a container, capture the water that runs while it gets hot and use it later to rinse dishes and water plants. Add a half an index finger of water and use it to clean a meal’s worth of dishes, rinsing no more than three seconds per dish. When you’re done, measure the water in the sink. How much higher on your finger does it rise?

With practice, I can see I am using less water. Maybe it’s that two-second rinse!

Recycle Utah, your community non-profit drop-off recycling center provides these weekly tips. Visit their website for more information — www.recycleutah.org.

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The increase in mail order and consumer packaging has dramatically increased the amount of old corrugated cardboard being dumped at the Summit County Three Mile Canyon Landfill in Coalville. Tim Loveday, the county’s waste management superintendent, states that this is a “real problem and it’s frustrating.”

The problem? Like any other landfill garbage, breaking down cardboard produces greenhouse gas. Also, compacted old corrugated cardboard takes up about two and a half times more space when compared to other compacted waste — 700 pounds of corrugated card, compared to 1,600 pounds of other waste per cubic yard.

Dumping old corrugated cardboard is shortening the projected 35-year lifespan of the landfill by one year for every 10. There’s room for four more double-lined pits, or cells, on the property. One is needed now, and Loveday has requested $3.3 million in the county’s 2024 budget to create it.

Especially frustrating is the fact that when old corrugated cardboard is recycled, it earns municipalities and recyclers money. Loveday says Summit County has made money on it in past years; this year they are breaking even.

Curbside recycling is capturing 39% of residential cradboard, which means we are still dumping about 60% of it. Households that don’t have or use curbside recycling must take their old corrugated cardboard to Recycle Utah or to the landfill where if separated out, it is easily placed into on-site cardboard-only dumpsters for recycling.

Still, landfill staff see users throwing old corrugated cardboard into the mixed trash dumpsters. Throw away enough of the cardboard, and you’re throwing away money.

The message to recycle old corrugated cardboard is an old, oft-repeated one. Loveday is still asking us, perhaps with more urgency, to sort and recycle your old corrugated cardboard!

Recycle Utah, your neighborhood community, non-profit drop-off recycling center, provides these weekly tips. Visit their website for more information— www.recycleutah.org.

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Here are some stats on the incredible sustainability features of bamboo.

A forest of it acts as a giant carbon sink — a tropical bamboo plant can sequester 2 tons of carbon dioxide in 7 years. In comparison, a hardwood tree will sequester a ton of CO2 in 40 years and compared to pine, bamboo absorbs 5 times more. It also produces 35% more oxygen than an equivalent volume of trees.

It requires very little water; it doesn’t need chemical fertilizer, herbicides or pesticides; it self-regenerates from its own roots. Crop yield is high.

It grows fast. Some species can grow by more than a meter a day!

It is fully biodegradable — toss a bamboo product in the landfill, and it will biodegrade in a few or more years.

As a building material it is an excellent replacement for plastic, wood, concrete and steel. Its fibers are durable and super strong, elastic, lightweight and rot resistant. It makes a lightweight, breathable, antibacterial fabric.

In 2019 the global bamboo marketplace reached $72 billion, and it grows steadily. So, what can we do to put more bamboo in our lives?

• Learn more about bamboo. An interesting article is at https://www.greenbiz.com/article/north-america-should-be-growinghuge-swaths-bamboo-heres-why.
• Purchase building materials, fabric, and housewares made with processed bamboo. In clothing, it’s “the new hemp.” Other products include flooring, roofing, scaffolding, furniture, rugs, kitchen utensils, toothbrushes, paper products, and diapers.
• Eat some high fiber, mineral and vitamin packed bamboo shoots and try a bamboo beer!

Recycle Utah, your community non-profit drop-off recycling center, provides these weekly tips. Visit their website for more information – www.recycleutah.org.

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Choosing plants that will thrive in your garden does not have to be difficult. Just look around in our meadows, forests, and sagebrush lands. What flowers and shrubs do you see?

To name a few, there are lupins, flax, penstemon, clematis, phlox, Oregon grape, globemallow, flax, wood’s rose, chokecherry, golden currant, sunflowers and rabbit brush. Reach out to USU Extension Service Horticulturists, Swaner Preserve naturalists, and plant nursery garden specialists and they can provide you information about these and other “natives.” These are not the hybridized specimens you choose for their brilliant colors and large blooms. Planted in places that match their natural habitat, natives will thrive without fertilizer and pesticides, and with little additional water. Your native garden is an extension of the landscape surrounding it.

Utahns waste a lot of water. Ours is the second driest state and we are one of the highest per-capital populations of water consumers. Planting a native garden saves water. Use drip irrigation and water regularly to establish plants’ deep roots. Then drip water infrequently when their leaves are droopy or crisp. With less maintenance time required, there is more time to hike and bike!

Utah has over 1000 species of habitat-specific bee pollinators. They have incredibly specialized relationships with the plant species they pollinate and require for reproduction. We should plant these natives to maintain bee and plant populations.

Birds eat the seeds of native plants which provide them much needed habitat. A woman in Chicago planted a native garden on one-tenth of an acre of land that attracted 116 species of birds to her “little yard”!

 Enjoy a sustainable ecosystem of native plants in your garden.

Recycle Utah, your community, non-profit drop-off recycling center, provides these weekly tips. Visit their website for more information — www.recycleutah.org.

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Turfgrass is not always the “bad guy”—thirsty, hungry, and costly. It is a favorite place where we play and generally hang out. And functional turfgrass is an important part of a water-wise landscape.

Kelly Kopp, Professor, Extension Water Conservation and Turfgrass Specialist, at Utah State University, emphasizes several environmental benefits of functional turfgrass. Its dense root system absorbs water and almost eliminates runoff. Less runoff helps protect water quality. An area of turfgrass moderates wind erosion of soil, traps pollen and dust, and reduces environmental noise. It moderates temperature levels and reduces energy used for home cooling.

How do you make your turfgrass functional?

• Only use it in areas where it provides clear benefits.
• Water your turfgrass less. USU Extension estimates that the typical homeowner uses twice as much water as their turfgrass requires.
• Choose a grass mix that is best suited to your area. Professor Kopp notes three distinct grass type zones in Utah.
• For non-functional areas, consider using non-irrigated turfgrass that withstands drought stress — it will go dormant, turn brown and green up again when conditions improve.
• Don’t plant turfgrass in narrow areas where it cannot be efficiently watered.
• Irrigate turfgrass in areas separate from other plants which have different water needs and can be irrigated differently, e.g., by drip line.
• Support water efficient grass through proper mowing and fertilizing.
• Contact Elizabeth Cohen at elizabeth.cohen@usu.edu from the Summit County Extension Department for excellent information about all things landscaping.

Recycle Utah, your community non-profit drop off recycling center, provides these weekly tips. Visit their website for more information – www.recycleutah.org.

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According to Mike Luers, general manager of the Snyderville Basin Water Reclamation District (SBWRD) the district treats 4,000,00 gallons of wastewater per day; 5,000,000 gallons per day during peak season. In 2022 the two local wastewater reclamation plants treated 1.44 billion gallons of used water!

Our water is sourced from wells, springs, creeks, mine tunnels and the Echo Reservoir. It’s provided to us by various water companies. We never own it. SBWDB “reclaims” it — treats it, then discharges it into local streams. It flows into reservoirs and eventually, into the Great Salt Lake. It’s an efficient ecological system.

According to Luers, there are several “habits that can help our local environment.”

• Never flush down the toilet: “flushable” wipes, dental floss, tampons, condoms, toothpaste caps or other personal care products. This stuff doesn’t break down and either gets wrapped around the plant’s powerful pumps or needs to be screened out of huge pipes before the treatment process begins. Throw these items in the trash!
• Don’t pour grease and cooking oil down the drain. In pipes, grease hardens and oils form a putty-like substance. These may block pipes in your home and even cause raw sewage to back up. They can clog up the wastewater plant’s pipes. Put used grease and oil in a container and throw it in the trash!
• Even though urine contains most of the pharmaceuticals in wastewater, flushing them down the toilet adds more. Our district’s reclamation plants use advanced treatment methods but pharmaceuticals cannot be removed. Discharged into streams, they are absorbed by fish and can affect their development. Take unused medications to a drop-off box at the Sheriff’s or Police Office, the Redstone Clinic, or one of Recycle Utah’s Hazardous Waste Days.
•  Mike Luers would love to give you or your group a tour of our reclamation facility. Call him at (435) 64 –7993, or email him at mluers@sbwrd.org.

Recycle Utah, your community non-profit drop-off recycling center, provides these weekly tips. Visit their website for more information – www.recycleutah.org.

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Transit travelers are decreasing their carbon footprint by approximately four pounds of CO2 for each hour of drive time. Since its launch in July 2021, Summit County’s High Valley Transit (HVT) ridership has grown to almost 1.5 million. People are taking 1,000 daily rides on micro-transit; they have made 14,000 bus trips between Park City and Heber City since November 2022.

To make transit convenient, learn how to use the HVT and MyStop (Park City) apps or use Google Maps. Click on trip planning and set your pick-up location and destination. In real-time, you’ll see different pick-up times at the nearest stop, the time it will take you to get there; the specific bus or buses you can take; and your arrival time.

Get a comprehensive Ride Guide, go to the bus schedules tab in the HVT app or the Park City Transit website (schedule and routes) to check out the different bus numbers and colors, and their scheduled arrival times at different stops. Understand that these are the times you can expect a bus to arrive at a stop under “normal” weather and traffic conditions, full employment, and a fully operational fleet.

Remember, peak traffic and inclement weather affect vehicle and transit travel alike. And because buses can legally travel in the breakdown lanes on routes 224 and 248, your actual bus travel time could be faster than driving during heavy traffic conditions.

Taking the bus may be comparable in time to driving your vehicle when you consider parking and walking to where you want to be. Try asking someone your transit questions. They just might tell you the information you need to take a ride.

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Many of us are inadvertently wasting tap water as we use it in our homes and yards. There are many simple ways we can waste significantly less. One way is to “capture” running faucet or shower head water in a container as you wait for it to warm up. Keep a bucket in the kitchen and bathroom for your captured water and use it to water plants and rinse and wash dishes and other items. Doing this, can save 3 gallons of water from running down the drain each time you wait for hot water to flow.

For a cold drink on a hot day, keep a pitcher of tap water in the refrigerator instead of letting it run down the drain until it cools. When cooking, repurpose boiled water.

On a hot sunny day, we often run hot water remaining in a turned-off garden hose onto the ground until it cools. Instead, capture it in a bucket and use it later. Be alert to superheated water remaining in a hose that can cause burns. As much as possible, leave hoses in the shade. Water in the morning while the hose is cool.

In many ways, you can make sure your behaviors are those that minimize the amount of water you leave running down the drain or onto the ground. Saving water is another way to think, talk and feel-good green.

Recycle Utah, your community non-profit drop-off recycling center, provides these weekly tips. Visit their website for more information – www.recycleutah.org.

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