New recycling drop-off facility opens near Layton

LAYTON — For Bonnie Haines, the benefits of recycling are as clear as the plastic and glass containers she recycled Wednesday morning.

Haines had driven from near Bountiful to the north end of Layton to get the materials to a new recycling facility and start them on their way to a new life. It's trip she expects to make at least monthly.

"I used to live in Chicago, and we'd do this all the time," she said.

Haines was among many people "talking trash" Wednesday during a grand-opening open house at the Wasatch Integrated Waste Management District's recycle drop-off facility. She said she's happy to have the new facility as an option and will be ready — materials separated — next time she visits.

"This is great," Haines said. "I can just come up and do it, and I can bag it that way, so it's easy to take care of. And the people here were most helpful."

The 4,000-square-foot facility — so new that the surrounding asphalt was still sticky, and sod was still being placed — "is all about providing a high-quality recycling opportunity," said Nathan Rich, executive director of the district, which operates the adjacent Davis Landfill and the Davis Energy Recovery Facility.

"The benefit is knowing you're reducing your carbon footprint and helping with our overall environmental concerns," Rich said.

The facility — costing $1.1 million, plus $200,000 for equipment — can handle several types of recyclables, but Rich predicts that perhaps 70 percent will be cardboard.

Available to most residents of Davis and Morgan counties, the facility requires that materials be separated and free of trash upon arrival. Then patrons place the items through the appropriate windows, where they are placed in bins that are later stacked and sent for sale to raw-material recycling companies.

Open for about 10 days, the facility replaces what Rich called an "unsightly and inefficient" system that had people fill 40-yard bins that had to be hauled to Salt Lake City at $175 a pop. That prompted the new center, along with higher demand for recycling and the implementation of curbside recycling in some cities.

"In the meantime, we thought we'd put this project together that will carry its own weight financially and provide another great recycling opportunity," he said.

At about 1,600 tons per year, the facility could sell enough materials to meet its operational costs. That's why there is no limit on the amount that people can recycle there.