2023 Year-in-Review Highlights

By SLCgreen

Every year, we release a Year-in-Review with featuring our high-level accomplishments as well as priorities for the year ahead. (Check out our full 2023 Year in Review booklet here!)

It’s also an important time and opportunity for us to take stock, learn from the experiences we had the previous year, and to continue to improve our programs, services, and operations.

While we engage with Salt Lakers mostly through recycling questions and efforts, we do so much more! Here are some highlights from 2023 and keep a lookout for more details in our Year-in-Review booklet coming soon. (In the meantime, you can take a look at previous annual reports for 2022 and 2021.) Some notable achievements include:

WASTE & RECYCLING

• Crafted a successful Recycling Education & Outreach grant to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Our proposal was one of only 25 proposals in the country awarded, receiving nearly $1 million to support outreach, community engagement, and operations to increase recycling rates with a particular focus on the Westside.

• Additionally, through routine Waste & Recycling services:
  • Diverted 36% of the waste stream by composting and recycling;
  • Completed 8,127 Call 2 Haul requests;
  • Removed 1,213 illegal piles from public spaces;
  • Delivered and removed approximately 2,100 seasonal green waste carts; and,  
  • Provided waste services at 107 special events.

AIR QUALITY

• Proposed the Electric Vehicle (EV) Readiness Ordinance, which was formally petitioned by the Mayor, and unanimously approved by the City Council in April. The new ordinance will support the expansion of electric vehicle ownership—and thereby reduce pollution—by requiring new multi-family developments to install enough conduit and wiring to support future installation of EV chargers in 20% of the provided parking stalls. (It does not require that the EV stations themselves be installed; only the electric capacity and conduit to make it that much easier to put in a station as demand increases.) The updated regulation applies only to new construction or major renovation of apartment buildings.
  
• Applied for and received a $123,869 award from Rocky Mountain Power to support electric vehicle charging infrastructure on 200 South, Day Riverside Library, the Regional Athletic Complex, Rosewood Park, and Riverside Park. These installations are in progress, and several were completed by the end of 2023. Additional installations are planned for Glendale Regional Park in 2024-2025.
  
• Recruited and hired an Air Quality Incentives Program Coordinator, Salvador Brown, for our new Air Quality Incentives program, which will include residential vouchers for electric landscaping equipment, electric bikes, and indoor air quality tools. Stay tuned!
  
• Supported a successful social media “Ask Me Anything” on Air Quality with Mayor Mendenhall.

FOOD EQUITY

• Launched the first Food Equity Microgrant Program to support resident- and community-led projects to advance food justice. The program distributed over $35,000 to individuals and community groups through 50+ grants, the program aims to address food inequity and increase access to fresh, healthy, affordable, and culturally relevant food in Salt Lake City. Read a few profiles on our blog. And keep an eye out on our channels– The 2024 round of the program begins soon!

• Completed the second cohort of the Resident Food Equity Advisors Program. The cohort provided a letter with recommendations to the Mayor and met with Mayor’s Office Staff in July to present on three of the ideas they refined. Their recommendations will be incorporated into the updated Community Food Assessment the City is currently undertaking and expects to finish by mid-2024..

CLIMATE AND RENEWABLE ENERGY

• Continued navigating significant international trade headwinds, supply chain obstacles and other challenges facing renewable energy development to ensure continued viability of the Elektron Solar Project, expected to come online in 2024.
  
• Received a $325,000 grant from a corporate sponsor to install rooftop solar on up to five westside businesses, in partnership with Utah Clean Energy. We also participated in a coalition to draft the Utah Office of Energy Development’s “Solar For All” grant application requesting $100 million to establish low-income residential and community solar programs across the State. We expect to hear back on that application in March 2024.
  
• Awarded a $1 million EPA Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) to launch the Greater Salt lake Clean Energy & Air Roadmap project (SL-CLEAR). This 4-year grant entails leading a regional climate planning effort that will provide an eligibility pathway for future climate pollution implementation grants available in 2024. This plan will allow us to identify high-impact opportunities to reduce emissions and to apply for federal funds to implement projects. In 2023 as part of this grant, we:
  • Worked with University Neighborhood Partners to create a new Environmental Justice resident committee focused on the Westside to give feedback and share their ideas.
  • Held multiple stakeholder meetings with representatives from jurisdictions in Salt Lake and Tooele Counties, community-based organizations, non-profit partners, and internal Salt Lake City staff to gather input on priority climate measures to include in the Priority Climate Action Plan.
  • Recruited and hired a new grant-funded Climate Engagement Coordinator, Carolina Gomez-Navarro, to oversee the day-to-day activities of the grant.

• Partnered with FUSE Corps to hire a 1-year Executive Fellow, Nate Chai. He is dedicated to studying and making recommendations on how the City can support a workforce to achieve our climate goals and provide high-road, green jobs for residents.
  
• Continued to support Utah Renewable Communities (URC), also known as the Community Renewable Energy Agency, which represents a coalition of cities, counties, and other municipalities working to launch a default net-100% renewable electricity option for customers of Rocky Mountain Power in their respective communities.
  • This included communication efforts such as amplifying their rebrand, and working with a consultant who did market research and intercept surveys, and recommended messaging and visual strategies that we can use once the program is approved and being offered.
  • Additionally, we supported the URC chair and board by working with Rocky Mountain Power to complete portions of the application, including the utility agreement (approved by 17 communities so far), development of the required Plan for Low-Income Assistance (energy affordability plan), and approving the model participation ordinance. The program application is now expected to be submitted by Rocky Mountain Power in the first half of 2024.

ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE

• Supported the completion of regulatory and environmental compliance processes for a successful ribbon cutting of The Other Side Village. Developed an environmental conditions website to provide transparency for the public.
  
• Supported environmental assessment and remediation at several sites around the City, including developing best practices for urban community garden development.

CLIMATE RESILIENCY

• Supported the work of the Sustainable Infrastructure committee towards successful adoption of the Sustainable Infrastructure policy within the City’s Comprehensive Sustainability Policy, which sets criteria for third-party certification for major capital projects funded by the City to conserve resources and support environmental justice.
  
• Participated in one funding round for carbon dioxide removal via concrete projects as an observer city for the 4 Corners Carbon Coalition, which seeks to mobilize municipal support for cutting-edge carbon dioxide removal projects in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. The second round on “liability biomass” is currently underway.
  
• Worked with a coalition of researchers and community partners to plan and execute a one-day citizen science heat mapping campaign to record Salt Lake City’s temperatures throughout the City on one of the hottest days of the year. Then, we worked with the partners to host a public presentation at the Natural History Museum of Utah to discuss the results, the impact of heat on people and neighborhoods, and what the City is doing to address it. (Watch the recording here and check out our resource list from the event here).
  

Thank you to our many partners who have helped and continue to help along the way, and to Salt Lake City residents. We could not accomplish this work without your support.

We are dedicated to keeping equity integral to our work for a more sustainable SLC. Moving toward a more sustainable SLC takes everyone, from City government, various levels of other government agencies, non-profits, business partners, community councils, neighborhood groups, and individuals. We’re excited to share even more impactful upcoming projects and goals!

What would you like to see from us in 2024? Leave a comment here on the blog, send us a message on social media, email us at slcgreen@slcgov.com, or call us at 801-535-6470.