In some studies, Utah ranks 39th out of all 50 states for eco-friendliness. Growing up my family made it a point to always separate our recyclables into bags. Once they filled up, we’d take them to a recycling site in which they’d count or weigh the recyclables. This instilled recycling habits that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Now that I live on my own in Utah, I’ve realized how different my standards are from my peers. Utah’s government doesn’t have any prevalent incentives for everyday people to recycle. In contrast, Maine has the highest recycling rate in the US, with a whopping 72%. Maine requires any business with more than 15 employees to recycle. Although this may be an extreme step for the Utah legislature, they can make more progressive steps to make recycling more accessible, therefore increasing recycling rates. Ten states have established a bottle bill ranging from 5-15 cents. This serves as a downpayment with the purchase of plastic bottles and cans which will be returned to the consumer after the recyclables are turned in. The bottle bill doesn’t cost the government any money, making it a logical benefit to Utah’s environment.

Lauren Wojcik, Provo

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