If you’ve lived in Utah long enough, you know there’s really nowhere quite like it. One weekend you’re hiking through red rock canyons in Moab, the next you’re skiing the Wasatch powder that everyone else in the world pays thousands to experience.
Here in Utah, we’ve got five national parks — Arches, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef — plus mountain towns like Park City and Sundance that feel like they’re out of a postcard. People fly in from all over just to breathe the same mountain air we take for granted.
That beauty is part of our identity. It’s also part of what drives our economy. In 2022, Utah tourism brought in nearly $12 billion in visitor spending, supporting more than 150,000 jobs statewide. When you factor in the ripple effects, that’s roughly $23 billion in total economic output. The bottom line? People come here because it’s clean, wild, and stunning.
But if we aren’t careful, that could change.
The Hidden Problem Under All That Beauty
Most people don’t think twice about what happens when they toss out an old laptop, printer, or monitor. Out of sight, out of mind, right? But here’s the thing — those electronics don’t just disappear. They often end up in landfills, and over time, they leak out things like lead, mercury, and cadmium. Those toxic materials don’t stay put; they make their way into the soil and groundwater, quietly threatening the same landscapes that make Utah so special.
Now keep in mind, Utah’s population keeps growing — fast. New families, new businesses, each bringing in more tech, resulting in more turnover and more electronic waste. If we aren’t careful, it can be one of those problems that sneaks up on you if nobody talks about it.
According to the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, less than 10% of the state’s waste is recycled or recovered. That means about nine out of ten things that could be reused or safely broken down end up buried in a landfill. Simply said, it’s not sustainable — not for the land, and not for the image Utah is known for.
Why Recycling Electronics Actually Matters
Recycling electronics isn’t about being “eco-perfect.” It’s about being responsible with what we already have. When you recycle your old computers or electronic devices, you’re doing two important things:
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Keeping heavy metals and toxins out of the ground and water.
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Recovering valuable materials that can be reused instead of mined again.
Small choices build up fast. If every Utah business recycled their outdated equipment, we’d be diverting Millions of pounds of e-waste from landfills every single year. That’s the kind of impact that keeps our trails clean, our water clear, and our tourism strong.
The Role Recycle IT Plays
That’s where we come in.
At Recycle IT, our team helps keep Utah’s e-waste out of the environment by offering free electronics pickup for local businesses. We specialize in computer and laptop recycling and include certified data destruction as part of the service — also free.
We started this because it just makes sense. Businesses shouldn’t have to choose between protecting the planet and protecting their data. We handle both — securely, responsibly, and at no cost.
If your company wants to do its part to help keep Utah clean (and check a compliance box while you’re at it), you can schedule a free commercial pickup here. It takes two minutes. We’ll do the rest.
A Shared Responsibility
Utah’s growing fast. More people, more tech, more opportunity — but also more responsibility. Keeping our home clean isn’t a government project; it’s a community habit. Every computer recycled, every old server hauled off the right way, adds up.
So next time you look out over Zion’s cliffs or breathe in that crisp mountain air after a storm, remember — it doesn’t stay that way on its own. We all play a part in keeping Utah beautiful. Ours just happens to involve trucks, hard drives, and a lot of recycling bins.
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