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By Kimberly Flores, Owner of fulFILLed Lifestyle Co. and a Certified Silver Green Business

Plastic Free July is a global movement that encourages people to reduce their reliance on single-use plastics through simple, everyday choices. What began as a small campaign has grown into a worldwide movement involving millions of participants across more than 190 countries—all working toward the same goal: reducing plastic waste, one habit at a time.

The challenge isn’t about being perfect. It’s about discovering a few practical changes that fit your lifestyle or business and continuing them long after July ends. For businesses, many of these small changes can do double duty—reducing plastic waste while earning points toward Green Business certification.

The need has never been greater. Since plastic became widely used, humans have produced roughly 10 billion tons of plastic, yet only about 9% has ever been recycled. Much of the rest ends up in landfills, waterways, or breaks down into microplastics that persist in our environment for hundreds of years.

The good news? Small, everyday choices can add up to make a big difference.

Start with Your Plastic “Hotspots”

Rather than trying to eliminate every piece of plastic from your life overnight, identify the places where you use the most disposable plastics. Maybe it’s takeout containers, bottled beverages, shopping bags, cleaning products, or bathroom products.

Once you identify those habits, replacing just one or two with reusable alternatives becomes much more manageable.

Here are a few simple swaps to get started:

• Carry a reusable water bottle or coffee mug.
• Bring reusable shopping and produce bags.
• Skip disposable utensils and straws.
• Store leftovers in reusable containers instead of plastic bags.
• Switch to shampoo bars, bar soap, or refillable personal care products.
• Refill household cleaning and personal care products instead of purchasing new plastic bottles.
• Shop secondhand when possible.

Remember, the most sustainable product is often the one you already have.

Businesses Can Make a Difference Too

Plastic reduction isn’t just something individuals can do. Whether you own a retail store, restaurant, office, hotel or lodging property, or another type of business, there are many practical ways to reduce unnecessary plastic while conserving resources and reducing waste.

Join the Plastic-Free July Bingo Challenge

Want to make Plastic Free July a little more fun?

This year, we’re inviting the community to participate in a Plastic-Free July Bingo Challenge.

Complete simple plastic-free activities throughout the month—like bringing your own shopping bag, trying a shampoo bar, shopping secondhand, conducting a household trash audit, or refilling your cleaning products.

Once you complete any row (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal), bring your completed bingo card into fulFILLed Lifestyle Co. to receive 20% off your next purchase.

Share your progress on social media and tag us for a chance to be featured.

Download your Plastic-Free July Bingo Card here.

Join Us for a Free Community Screening

fulFILLed Lifestyle Co. is partnering with Recycle Utah and Zero Waste Wasatch Back for a free screening of The Plastic Detox.

Wednesday, July 22
6:00–8:00 p.m.
Jim Santy Auditorium, Park City

The documentary explores how plastics and everyday chemicals affect both environmental and human health, followed by a community discussion with local partners.

At fulFILLed Lifestyle Co., we believe sustainable living should be approachable, affordable, and enjoyable. Whether you’re making one simple swap or rethinking how your business reduces waste, every step matters. 

We hope you’ll join us for an evening of learning, conversation, and inspiration—and leave with new ideas you can put into practice long after Plastic Free July ends.

Register here.

Emily Newcomer, Green Business Program Coordinator

One thing I’ve been struck by since becoming Green Business Program Coordinator is how much sustainability work is already happening across Summit County. Businesses are reducing waste, conserving water, improving energy efficiency, and finding other ways to make a positive impact every day.

The challenge often isn’t doing the work—it’s finding the time and words to talk about it.

That was one of the themes explored during Beyond Buzzwords: Writing Sustainability Content People Care About, a recent workshop hosted by the Park City Chamber & Visitors Bureau and led by Right On Founding Partner, Kim Grob and Creative Director, Beth Lopez. The session offered practical ideas for communicating sustainability in ways that resonate with people. It also served as a reminder that these lessons apply to the Green Business Program, too, challenging us to think about how we communicate sustainability in ways that feel approachable, relevant, and meaningful to local businesses.

Here are three takeaways from the workshop that I think local businesses may find helpful when communicating their sustainability efforts:

1. Start with the Why

One of the biggest takeaways was that effective communication starts with the audience, not the topic.

It’s easy to write from a “we” perspective: We’re reducing waste. We’re conserving water. We’re improving energy efficiency.

The workshop challenged participants to flip that thinking and start with the audience instead. Why should they care? How does this affect them? What problem does it solve?

For example:

Instead of saying:
“Our restaurant recently implemented a food waste diversion program.”

Consider saying:
“When you eat here, your meal is prepared to be not just delicious, but thoughtful too. And if you leave a few bites behind, they’ll be turned into compost instead of being sent to the landfill.”

Or:

Instead of saying:
“We’ve installed energy-efficient lighting throughout our store.”

Consider saying:
“The next time you stop by, you may notice the store feels a little brighter. New energy-efficient lighting helps us create a more enjoyable shopping experience while using less energy.”

In each example, the action is the same. The difference is that the rewrite connects the sustainability effort to something the audience can see, feel, or care about.

Before writing a website update, newsletter article, or social media post, ask:

• Who am I trying to reach?
• What do they care about?

2. Leave the Jargon Behind

The workshop also challenged participants to think about sustainability terms that may be familiar within the industry but don’t mean much to the average reader.

Participants were encouraged to replace technical language with words and phrases that feel more relatable and less polarizing.

For example:

Instead of saying…	Consider saying…
Decarbonization	Cutting pollution
Circular Economy	Continuous use
Achieve Net Zero	Clean up as much as we pollute
Waste Diversion	Recycling

During the workshop, attendees were challenged to rewrite a message about glass recycling that was packed with terms like waste diversion rates, automated optical sorters, Scope 3 emissions, and decarbonization trajectories. While technically accurate, those terms can make it easy for readers to gloss over the message if they don’t immediately understand what they mean.

The revised version was much simpler:

“Give your empty glass containers a new life. New free glass collection sites in Kimball Junction, Coalville, and Kamas make it easy to recycle your empty glass containers. Instead of wasting space in the landfill, these containers become insulation for homes.”

The goal isn’t to oversimplify. It’s simply to make sure people understand what you’re talking about without needing a sustainability dictionary.

As someone who has worked in recycling and sustainability for many years, I appreciated this reminder. Sometimes the words we use most often are the same words that cause folks to tune out.

3. Make It Local and Authentic

The workshop also emphasized the importance of bringing your organization’s personality and voice into your communications.

People are more likely to remember a story about a person, challenge, or experience than a statistic or broad sustainability claim. That means moving beyond broad sustainability statements and focusing on real experiences, local examples, and the people behind the work.

It also means being honest about both successes and challenges. Sustainability isn’t always a straight line, and sharing what you’ve learned along the way can be just as valuable as sharing your accomplishments.

Whether you’re writing a social media post, newsletter article, or website update, think about the story you’re telling. Does it have a beginning, a middle, an end, and a reason for your audience to care?

The more local, specific, and authentic your story feels, the more likely it is to resonate.

Before you hit publish, ask yourself:

• Who am I trying to reach?
• Why should they care?
• Can I replace any jargon with simpler language?
• Can I make this more local or specific?
• Am I talking about benefits or just activities?

Sometimes a few small adjustments can make the difference between content that gets skimmed and a sustainability story that connects.

What This Means for the Green Business Program

This workshop was a reminder that these communication lessons apply to the Green Business Program, too.

It challenged me to think about how we talk about sustainability and certification. Are we communicating in ways that feel approachable and actionable? Are we helping businesses understand where to start, what steps to take, and how sustainability can support the goals they’re already working toward?

It also reinforced the role the program can play in helping businesses tell their stories. Certification is important, but so is recognizing, celebrating, and sharing the work happening behind the scenes. As the program grows, we will continue to create more opportunities to highlight local businesses and amplify the sustainability stories that deserve to be heard.

Thanks to the Workshop Partners

Thank you to the Park City Chamber & Visitors Bureau for hosting this valuable workshop and to Kim Grob and Beth Lopez at Right On for sharing their expertise and leading such an engaging discussion. The session provided practical communication tools that businesses, nonprofits, community organizations, and sustainability professionals can apply immediately.

To learn more about Right On and its work helping organizations communicate sustainability in meaningful and effective ways, visit wearerighton.com or connect with the team on LinkedIn.

Image: Words that Work, Radley Yeldar

Morgan Mingle, Director of Sustainable Tourism for the Park City Chamber

I’ll be honest: I’ve spent more time than I’d like to admit writing sustainability content that was technically accurate and almost completely unengaging. Getting the facts right always felt like the priority, whether it actually connected with the reader was an afterthought. It took some outside perspective for me to realize that accuracy and engagement are not mutually exclusive, and that most of what makes sustainability content miss is fixable. 

I’m still very much learning in this space, but here are some of the tips that have helped me think differently:

If you want to work through these ideas hands-on, Park City Chamber & Visitors Bureau and Right On are hosting a mid-day workshop on June 10, “Beyond Buzzwords: Writing Sustainability Content People Care About,” at Hotel Thaynes in Park City. Grab a ticket here. 

Something exciting is coming soon — and you’re invited to be part of it.

This year, Park City is proud to host the 3^rd annual Zero Waste Forum, put on by the Race to Zero Waste, Green Education US, and the National Recycling Coalition. This lively and inspiring event will be a gathering of national and international leaders on zero waste to rethink what we throw away and why it matters. For a few energizing days our community will become a hub for fresh ideas, practical solutions, and meaningful conversations about how we can reduce waste and build a more circular future.

Whether you run a business, manage operations, or simply care about sustainability, the forum offers something for you. Expect engaging speakers, real-world examples, and down-to-earth strategies you can actually use. It’s also a chance to connect with others who share your curiosity and commitment, right here in our own backyard.

Speakers will include:

• Steve Jewett of EarthDay.org
• Pål Mårtensson, creator of the world’s first Eco-Park
• Britt Gondolfi of Bioneers Indigeneity Program

There will be many interesting talks and labs like:

• Addressing Skepticism in Recycling: Buidling public confidence
• Beyond False Solutions: The value of zero waste in businesses and institutions
• Zero Waste Textiles: Regenerate, mend and upcycle

There are several registration options, including single day, both days, and special discounts for Green Businesses. We hope you can make it!

Curious? Interested? Ready to be inspired?

Reach out to celia.peterson@parkcity.gov to learn more and access discounts. We’d love to see you there—and to continue building a more resilient, low-waste future together.

Zero Waste Forum

Race to Zero Waste

Green Education US

National Recycling Coalition

Did you know that as a Summit County or Park City business, you can get a FREE bike rack installed through the Request a Rack program?

Bike racks at local businesses help reduce traffic by providing a convenient place for bicyclists to park at their destination and by reducing concerns about security or theft. Park City and Summit County also offer amazing cycling infrastructure to take advantage of, and these racks can further encourage active commuting and reduced vehicle use, supporting a healthier community. Be part of the solution by requesting a rack today!

Here is what you need to know about the Request a Rack program:

• Each rack is an inverted-u, and powder-coated black
• Two bikes fit securely on each rack
• Number of racks provided for each business is space-dependent, but typically less than five
• Park City provides for and installs racks for businesses within 84060, and Summit County installs and provides for all other businesses
• Businesses can receive up to 10 points towards their Green Business certification for installing bike racks

All Park City businesses (84060) can use the link here to get started.

For all other businesses in Summit County, fill out the form here.

Have questions or want to learn more? Reach out to the Green Business Team.

The Summit County | Park City Green Business Program is excited to recognize the businesses that earned certification in 2025 following a two-year redevelopment and expansion of the program and a recent strategic planning process. After the soft launch of the program’s website earlier this year, businesses were invited to engage in the new platform and updated certification process. Since January, 13 businesses have been certified in the program.

The businesses that have pursued this new certification have demonstrated their commitment to sustainability and desire to be a leader in our community by taking meaningful action across key areas including energy, water, materials and waste, transportation, and community and equity.

The program would like to recognize the following list of Green Businesses for their continued efforts and leadership:

Silver: Swaner Preserve & EcoCenter, fulFILLed, Savoury Kitchen, Park City Library

Bronze: Done to Your Taste Catering and Events, Le Depot Brasserie, Park City Community Foundation, POW Therapy, Alpine Apothecary, Residences at the Utah Olympic Park, Summit County Health Department, Chesley Electric, Basin Recreation 

To earn certification, businesses are required to choose from over 200 actions to implement. Each action includes instructions and resources to help businesses improve the sustainability of their operations. Actions are scored for level of difficulty and impact, and businesses earn their certification level based on the total number of points earned.

In addition to the new website, the Green Business Program continues to host quarterly Lunch and Learns as a way to support business-to-business learning and engagement. Learn more and register for our next Lunch and Learn on the topic of sustainable transportation here. 

To stay up to date on certified businesses, visit the Green Business Program directory.

To get your business certified, start by creating a profile here.

Stay tuned for more exciting program updates in 2026!