Waste Reduction & Recycling

An Oregon Perspective on Waste Reduction & Recycling

Mike Burton
Executive Officer
METRO

Our deep-rooted environmental ethic in the Northwest makes us a model for other parts of the nation, and yet, our consumption of natural resources continues to grow. Year after year, individuals, businesses, and the construction industry continue to produce increasing amounts of waste. Since 1995, waste generation in the Portland Metro region has increased approximately 6% annually, four times faster than the rate at which our population has increased. However, our regional recovery rate has remained flat in this period, averaging 43%. That means an ever-increasing volume of resources is disposed; in 1999 alone, more than 1.2 million tons of waste went into our landfills.

While solid waste management programs focus on keeping waste out of landfills, sustainability forces us to look upstream at more significant effects our actions have on the environment and ecosystems. For every ton of resources that we consume, more than 80 tons of waste and pollutants are discharged into the environment (World Resources Institute, September 2000). These discharges affect our air and water, our ability to enjoy nature, and our ability to realize the benefits of a strong ecosystem.

What can citizens do? Plenty.

Just as people in the Metro region wholeheartedly embraced curbside recycling in the early 1990s, our challenge today is to rethink our lifestyles and life choices, and be increasingly innovative and personally responsible in our efforts to conserve the Earth's resources by reducing waste. To become a truly sustainable region and state we are going to have to find solutions large and small, in every aspect of our lives, and in every aspect of how we live.

The agencies and organizations listed in this section are a good resource of ideas for individuals who are ready to take their personal environmental commitment to the next sustainable level.

Metro is the regional government that serves 1.3 million people who live in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties and the 24 cities in the Portland metropolitan area. Metro provides transportation and land-use planning services and oversees regional garbage disposal and recycling and waste reduction programs.

Oregon Advisory Committee on Electronic Product Stewardship

Created by Act SB 867 and signed by Governor Kulongoski August 22, 2003, the EPS is missioned to examine "the existing infrastructure in this state for reuse and recycling of used electronic products, including reuse and recycling opportunities offered by manufacturers, retailers and local and regional governments and opportunities for donation and reuse of electronic products."

All documents below are Acrobat PDFs unless otherwise noted.

Final Report
Report to The 2005 Oregon Legislature, January, 2005
Executive Summary only

Meeting Documents
Working Plan, May 10, 2004.
Work Groups and Legislative Responsibilities Update, August 23rd, 2004.
Full Report / Summary, Education and Outreach Work Group.
Environmentally Preferred Purchasing and Disposal Practices, by Dianne Lancaster, Oregon Department of Administrative Services, State Procurement Office.
The Case For and Against Banning Electronic Waste From Oregon Landfills, by Betty Patton and John Hire.
Oregon Scenarios Matrix [Excel file]

Meeting Minutes
2004: November, October, September, June, May, March, February

Electronics recycling in Oregon
Collection locations
  Table by county
  Map
  List for Portland metropolitan area

Infrastructure survey, 2003 (excluding the Portland Metropolitan Area)

Electronic product stewardship elsewhere
Summaries of 14 states' legislation:
  Summaries of each
  Table catagorized by responsibility

Product stewardship policy options, and U.S. state and Canadian province activities by Tom Osdoba.

Producer Responsibility Organizations in Canada: how they are established, appointed and managed.

The Environmental Protection Agency and electronic product stewardship, a presentation of activities of the EPA by Mike Slater.

National Electronic Product Stewardship Initiative, a panel discussion and presentation with Wayne Rifer, Heather Bowman/EIA and Jan Whitworth/DEQ.

Visit Oregon Advisory Committee on Electronic Product Stewardship's page on OECDD's website: www.econ.state.or.us/eproduct.htm

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Featured Case Study

The RE Store

The RE Store was begun in 1993 to address the growing concern of citizens in Northwest Washington to the huge amount of perfectly fine building materials that were being disposed of. Since that time The RE Store has turned that waste into a viable sustainable business venture that diverts more than 2,000,000 pounds of waste a year from needless disposal while employing 32 people.
Source: Sustainable Northwest


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Featured Oregon Organization

What You Can Do

To find out what you can do we have pulled together a few resources we think will be of some help. [Go]

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