By Mimi Darley Dutton | [email protected]

No more sorting all your paper from your other recyclables! Newspapers, office paper, magazines, and paperboard food boxes such as those for crackers and cereal can once again be recycled curbside in Draper. The announcement came from the city Oct. 12 and went into effect immediately. Recycling is market-driven, and that’s what brought about the change.

“The market has changed regarding paper. Three years ago, paper had no value and was treated like contamination. Now, a strong demand for paper has pushed prices higher in nearly every region due to three major tissue mills running low or out of paper last January,” said Robert Markle, Draper’s deputy director of Public Works. Markle said the biggest demand is for white sorted office paper.

In addition to newspaper, office paper, magazines and food boxes, you can still recycle corrugated cardboard and egg cartons, aluminum and steel cans for food and beverages, empty aerosol containers, and plastic bottles and jugs with necks and caps on curbside in Draper.

But, junk mail with glossy coating, envelopes with plastic film windows, and paper envelopes with bubble wrap or coating on the inside still are not accepted. Those need to be thrown away with your garbage, or junk mail and envelopes with windows can be separated and taken to one of the Green Fiber recycling bins located in school parking lots throughout the city.

“If you can tear it, we can take it,” Sandi McKamey of Green Fiber said. There are three things Green Fiber can’t recycle—wrapping paper, paper with waxy coating (milk and juice containers) and stickers. Products have to be placed inside the green bins, otherwise they won’t be picked up.

Other items that still cannot be recycled curbside in Draper include plastic bags, food waste, wrappers and greasy packaging, coated paper products such as milk, juice and broth containers, yard waste and glass. To augment that, the city offers two options for glass recycling. First, there’s a large green recycling bin located on the southeast side of Draper City Hall parking lot that is free and accessible 24/7. Second, the city partners with Momentum Recycling to offer curbside glass recycling included on your Draper City utility bill. The set-up fee is $25 and cost of the service is $8/month for a 35-gallon wheeled container. More details can be found at www.utah.momentumrecycling.com/draper/

Putting any unrecyclable items in your Draper bin taints the load for others. “We still see far too many people use plastic garbage bags in their recycling can. These bags can get caught in and ruin the equipment at the recycling plants so the recyclers will just throw the entire bag out. People also don’t break down their boxes so that the recycling can lid is open. This causes the goods to easily blow out and it makes it especially hard for drivers to dump the can without making a mess,” Markle said.

Habitual offenders are at risk of losing their recycling service. “There are those that still misuse the program. With our information campaign in 2019, we have been able to reduce our level of contamination. We still monitor the program and we will tag and refuse to pick up a can that we know is contaminated,” Markle said.

The city also offers supplemental and seasonal recycling and disposal services. Bulk cardboard can be recycled at the city’s Public Works building located at 72 E. Sivogah Court, open Monday-Friday 7 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Bagged leaves can be dropped off at the same location at a dumpster west of the building now through Dec. 15, and the city’s annual Christmas tree drop-off at the Sivogah location will happen again this year.

Green waste and Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) can currently be taken to the Trans- Jordan Landfill.

Markle said there’s a convenient change coming in the next couple years for HHW. “The Trans-Jordan Landfill has been successful in procuring a location for a Transfer Station in Sandy…we hope to have operational by fall 2024. As part of the Transfer Station, the county plans to construct a Household Hazardous Waste drop-off for the public. This will be a great new addition since the county canceled its HHW program more than two years ago. The new HHW will be significantly closer for Draper residents,” he said.