JACKSON HOLE, WYOMING – From January to March 2018, a total of 2,148 tons (4,296,000 pounds) of material has been either reused, recycled, or composted and kept out of the landfill. It’s not easy to pull up to a big blue bin and dump your recyclables in the dead of winter. Considering that those are some of the coldest months of the year, these are some impressive statistics.
On a daily basis, Teton County sends over 100 tons of trash, over 100 miles, to a landfill in Idaho Falls at a cost of over $100/ton. In total, our community discards about 45,000 tons of material per year. Currently, over 30,000,000 pounds (about 34%) of those discards are diverted from the landfill through reuse, recycling, and composting.
Things are continuing to progress toward the RRR community goal of diverting 60% from the landfill by 2030. Below are the details on 2017 fiscal year statistics for recycled goods. There’s no word on how many pairs of skis have been recycled and reused, but Buckrail is confident that Jackson’s done a good job diverting skis and snowboards from landfills…for decades. (1 ton is 2000 pounds)
Reused, Recycled or Composted in 2017:
- Aluminum Cans: 43.6 tons
- Office Paper: 82.5 tons
- Corrugated Cardboard: 1,749.8 tons (3.499 million pounds)
- Glass (all colors): 1,056.5 tons
- Magazines: 352.9 tons
- Newspapers: 453.1 tons (906,200 pounds)
- Telephone Directories: 39.9 tons (79,800 pounds)
- Steel Food Cans: 59.5 tons
- Bottles #2 HDPE: 43.6 tons
- Bottles #1 PET: 59.3 tons
- Plastic Bags: 9.9 tons (19,800 pounds)
- Textiles: 100.4 tons
- Hazardous Waste: 21.1 tons
- Electronic Waste: 89.2 tons
- Food Waste Pilot: 21.1 tons
- Scrap Metal: 1,310.1 tons
- Tires: 46.5 tons (93,000 pounds)
- Wood/Compostables: 9,987.2 tons
Total Diversion from Landfill: 15,579.6
Total Tons of Material Discarded: 45,319.0
Average % Diverted from Landfill: 34%
