The Utah Recycling Alliance was started in 2011 by a group of dedicated professionals to promote recycling initiatives in our state through education, outreach, and advocacy. We co-founded the Intermountain Sustainability Summit with Weber State University, the region's premier sustainability conference. That same year we started the Zero Waste Awards, an annual event coordinated with America Recycles Day, to recognize businesses and organizations taking innovative steps in their operations to reach zero waste. In 2016 we launched a series of CHaRMs - a collection of hard-to-recycle materials - that are unique to the Wasatch Front. By bringing together businesses and organizations in one location, we have created a unique opportunity for Wasatch Front residents to repurpose and/or recycle 30+ different types of materials that can't typically be recycled curbside. In 2017 we launched our quarterly Fix-It Clinic program. We are creating a cultural shift away from society’s “throw-away” mentality with this unique program. At the clinics, people are paired with repair specialists and taught how to disassemble, troubleshoot and repair their broken household items. These repair specialists are experts in fixing a wide variety of items, like small household appliances, larger items like snow blowers and lawn mowers, furniture, bicycles, small electronics, torn clothing and more. By focusing on repairing and reusing materials, rather than throwing items away, this program helps reduce the amount of material to be landfilled, saving space in our local landfills.
