CLEARFIELD, Utah — After residents of Clearfield came to the city about a green waste program, the city is moving forward with a plan to do so, in partnership with Wasatch Integrated Waste Management.
“We had a lot of residents come to City Council members and say, 'We want a green waste program,'” said Shaundra Rushton, the communications manager for the City of Clearfield.
Rushton explained that there are a number of residents who are passionate about recycling. In fact, the new program, which only impacts those who have City of Clearfield Utilities, could impact up to 7,000 households.
"The residents who really prompted the creation of the green waste program, we heard from residents — they wanted to help extend the life of the landfill. They wanted to divert waste, so that’s why we have this,” said Rushton.
A director of the green waste program says it’s positive not only for the environment, but for Davis County itself.
“To increase the amount of ways that they divert out of their garbage can with a limited life in the Davis landfill,” said Nathan Rich, the executive director for Wasatch Integrated Waste Management District.
Residents were very vocal about the fees on social media, so we checked with the city about what people can expect on their future Clearfield utility bills.
“$10.50 a month, green waste will be picked up from April to November and then December through March. It will act as a regular second garbage can,” said Rushton.
But for Clearfield utility residents who want to opt out, there’s time.
“Residents have until March 14 to decide if they want to participate in the program or not,” said Rushton.
But Waste Management hopes that people see the greater good in the program.
“Up-cycling material that is collected by your city — in that green waste recycling can — will come here, where we turn it into high-quality composting,” said Rich.
They hope more cities will be part of this program in the near future before it becomes a bigger problem.
“So, anything that we can divert out of that garbage can, we don’t have to haul 100 miles away. So we're encouraging our cities to implement more robust recycling programs,” said Rich.
