Salt Lake City’s Sustainability Department is making several announcements this week for holiday and wintertime waste and recycling collection.
- All waste and recycling service will be delayed Citywide by one day the weeks of Dec. 25 and Jan. 1
- Christmas trees may be disposed of in two ways:
- Residents may cut trees into no larger than four foot lengths and place in the brown compost container for immediate disposal.
- Alternatively, residents may place trees on the curb for collection later in January.
- Salt Lake City will enact a wintertime suspension of compost container collection from January 22 – March 2, 2018.
Holiday Schedule Changes
To allow for City staff to have time off on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, curbside collection will shift forward by one day for all City residents the weeks of December 25 and January 1. Residents are advised to place their green, blue, and brown containers out on the curb one day later than normal.
“If your collection day is normally Monday, place your containers out on Tuesday, December 26 and Tuesday, January 2,” said Lance Allen, Director of the Waste and Recycling Division. “This schedule will carry forward the rest of the week. If your collection day is normally Friday, we’ll be by on Saturday, December 30 and Saturday, January 6.”
For more information, please visit: https://www.slc.gov/sustainability/waste-management/holiday-waste-collection-schedule/
Holiday Tree Disposal
Residents may dispose of trees in two ways. For immediate disposal, Salt Lake City asks residents to cut their trees up into a few small pieces and place in their brown compost containers. Ornaments and lights must be removed. “Flocked” trees are not accepted in the brown containers.
“Please do not stuff your tree in the cart,” said Lance Allen. “This makes it extremely difficult or impossible for our operators to remove your tree. Instead, please cut your tree into four foot or smaller pieces.”
Alternatively, residents may place whole trees on their curb for disposal in January. Exact pickup depends on demand and will occur in mid-to late-January. Residents may call 801-535-6999 for more information.
Wintertime Suspension of Compost Container Collection
Finally, Salt Lake City will once again implement a six-week suspension of yard waste collection in order to conserve resources and reduce air pollution during a period of extremely low demand. This year’s suspension is scheduled to occur from January 22 – March 2, 2018.
Demand for yard waste collection is low during this period, and suspending services will result in:
- An estimated fuel savings of 4,449 gallons and $11,656.
- The elimination of 728 pounds of criteria air pollutants and over 99,960 pounds of CO2-equivalent.
- A reduction in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent of removing 11 passenger vehicles from the road for an entire year
“Only one percent of curbside compost cans are set out for collection in the winter,” said Mayor Jackie Biskupski. “Halting collection for six weeks is a simple way to conserve City resources and make sure we’re doing everything we can to reduce air pollution.”
Compost can collection will start back up the week of Monday March 5, 2018, unless Salt Lake City is experiencing a period of heavy snow.
Residents who have remaining autumn yard waste for disposal are encouraged to call Waste and Recycling as soon as possible to request an extra green waste cart to be used before the suspension.
For more information on all waste and recycling services, please visit SLCgreen.com, call 801-535-6999 or email slcwasteandrecycling@slcgov.com.