From Glass to Green Energy: The Momentum Behind Utah’s Recycling Effort
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Salt Lake City, nestled against the Wasatch Mountains, has become home to a business dedicated to environmental stewardship: Momentum Recycling.
To fill the gap in Utah’s limited commercial recycling services, Momentum was founded in 2008, providing collections for a variety of materials, with a special focus on glass recycling and processing.
“Every product we buy comes from the earth—glass alone requires limestone, dolomite, soda ash, and specialized sands. None of these resources will last forever,” said John Lair, president of Momentum Recycling.
Simply put, the act of recycling protects natural resources and nurtures a healthier planet for generations to come.
And while glass remains Momentum’s specialty, the company has expanded to tackle another major waste stream: food waste.
In Momentum’s early years of business, restaurants were reluctant to participate because they had to separate meat from vegetable scraps—an impractical step for busy kitchens.
That changed around 2020 when Wasatch Resource Recovery, an anaerobic digestion facility in North Salt Lake, opened in partnership with the South Davis Water District.
The facility turns mixed food waste—everything from produce to meat, oils, and grease—into renewable natural gas that flows back into Utah homes through the state’s energy grid.
“This breakthrough meant we could finally tell restaurants, ‘All your food waste can go into one bin, and it’ll be turned into energy,’” Lair said.
The service quickly grew from commercial kitchens to residential neighborhoods in Salt Lake City, Millcreek, and later Summit County, with Momentum cautiously scaling up as new trucks and infrastructure became available.
Momentum has partnered with thousands of customers, making education a cornerstone of its approach.
“We work to make every system as efficient as possible so that everyone involved can be successful at recycling,” said Lair. “Education is a key part of that. For commercial clients, we train and support them so they understand how each step fits into the bigger picture of waste reduction.”
Taking this holistic approach means looking beyond just the bins to how people, processes, and habits all work together to make recycling effective.
For residential customers, the situation is different. In Utah, participation is entirely voluntary—no one is required to recycle.
There are no laws or incentives to recycle. Therefore, Momentum has found that their residential customers choose to do it because they believe it’s the right thing, often paying a little extra for that service.
“That voluntary commitment means most people want to recycle correctly, which makes our job easier,” noted Lair.“We’d face a very different challenge if it were mandatory.”
In the process of collecting and processing materials that would otherwise be thrown away, Lair has seen real benefits to not only the community and environment but also the economy.
“Recycling generates far more local jobs than landfilling,” Lair noted, “about nine for every one landfill job.”
Momentum alone employs nearly 50 people who wouldn’t have those jobs if the material were simply buried in a landfill.
Momentum also has an “unofficial program,” centered on helping individuals who suffer from substance abuse find employment and skills.
“Everybody makes mistakes in life, and, you know, as people grow and mature, maybe they want to take a different path, so we try to aid that individual growth,” said Lair.
Momentum’s focus on supporting people in recovery underscores Lair’s larger philosophy: progress begins with small, individual choices.
“As a species, we need to take our resource conservation incredibly seriously. We all have our role to play, and every voice is important,” said Lair. “Not one of us is going to save the world on our own; it’s everyone doing their part in their own way, and your voice matters.”
For more information about Momentum Recycling, visit the website.