Park City conveys land for new Recycle Utah facility, pushes Bonanza Park move-out deadline to 2027

Recycle Utah currently operates on a 0.4-acre site at Park City’s old transit facility since 1996 Photo: TownLift

PARK CITY, Utah — Recycle Utah received an extension on their use of their current site at the Bonanza Park after Park City Council voted in favor of conveying about four acres of land to the recycling organization for a future facility.

Council voted Thursday to convey roughly four acres of city-owned land to Recycle Utah for development of a new recycling center.

Part of the agreement extends the nonprofit’s deadline to vacate the Bonanza site from September 2026 to March 1, 2027, giving the organization additional time to transition to a new location. Recycle Utah originally planned to close by June 30 and spend the summer cleaning up the site.

Luke Cartin, Park City’s environmental sustainability manager, said the extension was coordinated alongside infrastructure work tied to the Munchkin Road realignment.

“After that, there’s a lot of work that needs to go on,” Cartin said. “And truthfully, talking to the Recycle Utah team, they’ve already had to endure a lot of impacts… so they’re ready to move as well.”

The land transfer follows a January action in which Summit County conveyed the property to Park City, clearing the way for the city to pass it along to the nonprofit.

“This has been a long journey now across a few different councils,” said Mayor Ryan Dickey at the council meeting. “It’s a complicated agreement with three parties and valuable land and environmental goals we all share.”

The new four-acre site, located on Paintbrush Road near Home Depot, is valued around $3.1 million, according to city staff. The current site is .4 acres on Woodbine Way and has been in operation for about 35 years.

Next steps

Once the conveyance is finalized, Recycle Utah will take ownership of the parcel and can move forward with designing and constructing a new facility.

City staff noted the lot is already graded at a six to seven percent slope, , making it suitable for development, and that preliminary planning is underway.

According to executive director Andy Hecht, the new location would allow the organization to expand services, including increased food waste collection, enhanced commercial recycling, and improved space for education and community programs.

Hecht mentioned Recycle Utah staff and volunteers have also discussed options such as temporary structures on the new site to bridge the period between vacating the current site and completing construction on the new facility.

Recycle Utah has estimated that a new facility could cost between $5 million and $7 million, although exact figures remain in flux until the final design is complete. The organization plans to launch a fundraising campaign to raise money for the project.