Dear Eartha, I read in a previous column that Summit County only has one landfill. What are the most impactful things we can do to make sure it lasts as long as possible?
You’re exactly right. There is only one landfill in Summit County, and we need to take responsibility for how much trash we toss in it. Granted, helping a landfill to live a long (and fulfilling) life isn’t a top-of-the heap issue for many of us; you might care more about preserving your neighborhood trail system than your neighborhood landfill. But the truth is, we should all care about the state of Summit County’s landfill. Why? Because trash doesn’t magically disappear when we stop thinking about it. It takes up space, and when our landfill is full, our trash will need to be hauled elsewhere— driving up costs for locals and making our trash someone else’s problem.
What can we do? In short, we need to recycle and compost as much as possible to start saving space now. The good news is we have data to help focus our waste diversion efforts. In 2019, the county partnered with the High Country Conservation Center (HC3) to complete a waste audit at the landfill. Teams of staff and volunteers literally dug through piles of trash to figure out what we’re all throwing away. Using this information, we can create new recycling programs and increase education for existing programs.
Even better, we have the infrastructure to support more recycling and composting. Our local landfill is more than just a landfill. Officially called the Summit County Resource Allocation Park (SCRAP), it’s an entire campus that includes the landfill as well as a composting operation, recycling processing plants, and a public recycling center.
So, what are the most common items that we throw away but could easily be recycled or composted instead? Let’s dig in.
Food Scraps
About 20% of the “trash” in Summit County’s landfill is food waste. This is troubling not only for the space taken up by the food scraps, but also because of the impact on climate change. Because items in the landfill are tightly compacted, there is not much oxygen in there. When organics decay without oxygen, they release methane, which is a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide. Ditch the emissions and help create a nutrient-rich soil amendment instead! Sign up to compost your food scraps with HC3’s free program. Want to make an even bigger impact? HC3 can help restaurants set up food scrap composting programs, too.
Construction Waste
So, what else is taking up unnecessary space in the landfill? By weight, construction waste comprises 30% of landfilled material. It’s also really bulky —it’s tough to try to squish wood or concrete, after all. But within this category, there’s a lot we can keep out. Wood can be composted or mulched, concrete can be crushed and reused, and scrap metal can be recycled. In addition, the SCRAP has adopted a new fee structure to incentivize sorting out the materials that can be recycled or reused.
And Recyclables
It might be hard to believe, but easily recyclable items like glass bottles, aluminum cans, plastic containers, and paper end up in our landfill. In fact, recyclables account for about 25% of landfilled waste. Whether you have curbside recycling at home or use one of the free drop-off sites, our community has a goal to make recycling convenient for everyone. And if you’re ever stumped about what goes where, feel free to call the recycling experts at HC3.
Act Now for a Better Tomorrow
By taking advantage of the recycling and composting programs that we already have in place in Summit County, community members have successfully extended the life of our landfill from 2050 to 2078. And there’s still room to improve! If more of us started composting, separating construction waste, and putting recyclables where they belong (in the recycling bin!), we might be able to stretch that date out even further – buying time for future community leaders to plan ahead for an eventual landfill closure, which will save both money and emissions. Let’s continue our progress!
Ask Eartha Steward is written by the staff at the High Country Conservation Center, a nonprofit dedicated to waste reduction and resource conservation. Submit questions to Eartha at info@highcountryconservation.org.
