A new kind of manufacturing — turning what you put in your collection bin into products made and sold around the world, with money flowing back to Salt Lake County for 30 years.
Ten ways Advanced Circular Manufacturing changes everyday life in Salt Lake County — from your collection bin to the county budget.
The royalty flows directly to Salt Lake County. Here is what that looks like in practice.
Four steps — from your household to Salt Lake County's budget.
This is not a discount. It is not a rebate. It is a contractual royalty derived from the value of what your materials become.
The proposed factory site, the landfills it replaces, and how they relate to where you live.
Locations are approximate. Factory site is subject to Term Sheet phase verification confirmation. Sources: saltlakecounty.gov; transjordan.org. April 2026.
Yes — that's exactly how it works. Every material your household generates goes into your standard collection bin. Food scraps, plastics, paper, cardboard, metal, glass, textiles — all of it. There is no sorting required from you.
All the separation happens inside the factory. The process uses microwaves and an oxygen-free environment to break materials apart and reform them into different products. The factory does not need materials pre-separated to work — that's what makes it fundamentally different from recycling.
The factory is a fully enclosed building — designed to have almost no smell or discharge. Materials are delivered in enclosed vehicles to a sealed receiving area. Every stage of the process happens inside, in an airtight environment. There is no open-air processing, no visible material piles, and no methane odour from decomposition.
This is the opposite of a landfill. A landfill has methane gas rising from decomposing materials for decades. The Carbotura factory eliminates that decomposition entirely — because the materials never get the chance to break down the way they do in the ground.
Indirectly, yes. Salt Lake County currently pays to dispose of materials — and gets nothing back. From 13 months after the factory opens, Salt Lake County starts receiving royalty income from Carbotura. In the first phase, that's over $21 million per year — equivalent to roughly $48 per household, per year.
That money flows into the county's budget. How it is used is Salt Lake County's decision — it could reduce Beneficiation Fees, fund community projects, or simply shore up the county's financial position. What is certain is that the money comes back to Salt Lake County, rather than disappearing into a landfill.
The factory is designed to process all material types your household generates. That includes electronics, multi-layer packaging, textiles, plastics of every kind, and organic material. There is no separate drop-off required for any common household material.
For hazardous household materials — like paint, batteries, and certain chemicals — the county's existing household hazardous waste programme at the Salt Lake Valley Landfill continues to serve those needs. The Carbotura factory handles the mainstream material stream that currently goes to the landfill. Your regular collection service is the only change you will notice.
No — and this is an important distinction. Incineration burns materials in oxygen. It produces ash, carbon dioxide, and air emissions. The materials are gone; they are converted to gas and residue. An incinerator needs a smokestack.
The Carbotura process uses microwave energy in a sealed chamber with no oxygen and no flame. There is no burning. Instead of destroying materials, it breaks them apart at the elemental level and reforms them into different things — graphite, recovered metals, and other manufactured products.
Think of it as a process that takes apart what was mixed together and reassembles it into something useful — without ever lighting a fire. The factory has no smokestack. No ash. No combustion exhaust.
Carbotura builds factories, not waste facilities. That distinction isn't just language — it determines which permits apply, which investors can participate, and whether the 30-year royalty structure is financially viable. Carbotura is filing a petition with the EPA confirming its process is manufacturing, not waste treatment. If a local or state authority were to classify the facility as a waste operation — even informally — Carbotura would not be able to proceed. The investment model requires manufacturing status. This is one reason Carbotura works closely with communities before committing capital: to confirm the regulatory path is clear.