Park City advances land transfer for larger Recycle Utah facility

Park City took a major step toward giving Recycle Utah a bigger, permanent home near U.S. 40, approving a land transfer that would move the nonprofit off its cramped Woodbine Way footprint and into a 4.18-acre site in Silver Summit.

The Park City Council voted unanimously Thursday night to move ahead with the transfer of 5625 Paintbrush Road to the Park City Conservation Association, which does business as Recycle Utah. City staff described the conveyance as a special warranty deed with a right of reverter, a structure meant to keep the parcel tied to its public purpose if the recycling project does not move forward.

For Summit County residents who use the drop-off center, the most immediate impact is timing. Recycle Utah will stay on Woodbine Way until 2027, giving the organization more runway to keep serving the community while permitting, financing and construction proceed at the new site. Earlier plans had pointed to a much sooner exit from the Bonanza Park area, but the latest timeline extends the transition.

That matters because the current location has long been too small for the scale of Recycle Utah’s work. The nonprofit says its Woodbine Way site is only 0.4 acres, while the Silver Summit parcel is roughly ten times larger. Recycle Utah says the extra room would allow it to expand recycling, accept food waste, grow community education and divert more material from the landfill.

The nonprofit has become a daily fixture for Park City and Summit County residents. Recycle Utah says it has served the Park City area since 1991, after being incorporated in 1990, and moved into its Woodbine Way home in 1996. It says more than 400 cars come through the site each day and that it recycles more than 3.5 million pounds of material annually.

City leaders, Summit County and Recycle Utah have also been working on a coordinated waste-diversion plan for summer 2026 so service can continue during the transition. Recycle Utah says it is launching a capital campaign to help fund the build-out at the new location, adding another layer to a project that is now as much about local infrastructure as land use.

The approval does not solve every problem overnight, but it does put Park City on a path toward a larger recycling facility that could finally match the demand already pressing against the Woodbine Way site.