One man's trash is another man's treasure proves true for Bret Weston, owner of Mountain West Recycling, a company offering residential curbside recycling.

Weston offers his bimonthly pickup service to residents of Davis, Weber, Box Elder and Morgan counties.

"Right now I have 1,200 customers," said Weston. "But the last couple of months I've picked up 50 new customers a month."

Weston took over the business from his brother back in 2001. The company was small, but Weston saw the potential for growth.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 20 years ago there was only one curbside recycling program in the United States, but in 2005 there were 9,000.

Many cities in Davis and Morgan counties as well as some other unincorporated areas belong to the Wasatch Integrated Waste Management District, which already participates in a waste-to-energy recycling program.

Layton Mayor Steve Curtis explained why many cities in northern Utah don't offer the more traditional curbside recycling program.

"It's very costly to operate," said Curtis. "We did a study and found it would cost the city about $1 million a year. The garbage that is collected at the curb now is recycled at the burn facility. The steam created from burning the garbage is used to heat buildings at Hill Air Force Base, and the extra is recycled into electricity that is sold back to Rocky Mountain Power."

Curtis believes the current recycling program the city offers reduces the amount of waste going into the landfill in a cleaner and more complete way than the traditional curbside program would.

Weston explained that some people like the idea of turning plastic jugs and bags, newspapers, soda bottles, soup cans and pickle jars into T-shirts, fleece, carpeting, park benches and even concrete products. Customers also like reducing the need for petroleum to make new items.

Weston says people are surprised to find he is still charging the original fee of $10 a month for his curbside pickup, once the $20 setup fee is paid. Weston leaves customers a 45-gallon wheeled container to put their recyclables into and set out on the curb on the pickup days.

"It's very easy," said new customer Summer Lyon of Kaysville. "There's no sorting, peeling off labels or anything like that. I like having the option. I'm surprised how much I can recycle. One person really can make a difference."

Weston may soon need another driver and truck to meet the number of new customers wanting his service. Weston would like his future expansion to include his own sorting center, so he can sort and prepare recycled items into marketable commodities for manufacturing. Weston says the demand is increasing for recycled items, and he wants to get involved in that part of the business, too.

In the meantime, Weston is glad to have a full-time job that allows him to work from home and provides a needed service for people.

"For me it's a way to keep the environment clean," said Weston. "People are going more green, and I'm helping them feel better about themselves."

---

E-mail: dramsay@desnews.com