June 6-8 - DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel - Portland, OR

 

Note: Presentations are linked in green.

Looking for a quick summary of the conference schedule? Check out the AGENDA.

Looking for the PowerPoints? Check out the PRESENTATIONS.

Want to learn more about speakers and moderators? Check out the BIOS.

Tour & Session Descriptions

June 7 – Tuesday

Exhibitors can set up 5:00pm – 8:00pm

AOR Golf Tournament – Riverside Country Club 12:30pm – 5:00pm

June 8 - Wednesday

Facility Tours

Lloyd Eco District By Foot

Join our walk to see for yourself why Lloyd EcoDistrict is aiming to be the most vibrant, sustainable and livable urban neighborhood in the nation. This collaborative community sustainability effort has already lead to a 10% decrease in district energy use in only two years, as well as a host of transportation improvements, and many upcoming waste projects. Learn about the district's pioneering programs such as Street Smart, a building renewal and efficiency pilot, see Oregon Convention Center's huge solar display, and tour innovative features such as NORM, the neighborhood's friendly organic matter recycling machine.

ReBuilding Center/Community Warehouse

If you are passionate about reuse, join us as we tour two of Portland's finest reuse organizations, Community Warehouse and the ReBuilding Center. Learn more about Community Warehouse's sustainable model that promotes reuse while helping those in need and how the ReBuilding Center that serves as a resource to strengthen environmental, economic and social fabric of local communities.

ORPET

Join us on a tour of Oregon’s first state-of-art plastic bottle recycling facility. ORPET, partnering with OBRC and Merlin Plastics, was designed and built to process Post-Consumer PET bottles into clean PET flake or RPET “Recycled PET”. Our recycling processes sort, granulate, and wash the PET material for re-use by a wide variety of end-users. ORPET’s primary stream of supply is OBRC, which handles the logistics of the Oregon Bottle Bill. The Reverse Vending Machines at redemption centers and retail stores collect the plastic bottles and OBRC gathers them from nearly 3000 locations across the State.

MetroPaint & Household Hazardous Waste

The Metro Central Hazardous Waste Facility is one of two permanent facilities operated by Metro that handle a wide variety of hazardous wastes from household and small business customers. This facility serves about 20,000 customers each year, and also serves as a base for Metro’s hazardous waste “roundup” events at various locations around the region.  

The MetroPaint facility processes about 400,000 gallons of latex paint each year, collected at Metro’s facilities and roundup events as well as more than 160 PaintCare collection points around the state.  MetroPaint brand recycled paint is sold at more than 75 retail locations around the Pacific Northwest.  

Owens-Illinois Glass Facility

Owens-Illinois uses post-consumer glass to manufacture beverage containers for the Craft Beer and wine producers of the Northwest

Far West Recycling/Denton Plastics

Denton Plastics is a woman run, family owned and operated company located in Portland, OR and we are the largest full service postindustrial/post-commercial recycler & compounder in the northwest. Their modern 60,000sqft facility sits on seven acres with rail siding. Denton Plastics is equipped to do shredding, grinding, baling, densifying, pulverizing, compounding, packaging, exporting and brokerage. They have been located in Portland for over 33 years and their reputation in the industry is excellent.

Far West Recycling (FWR) has been helping Oregon recycle since 1980. The NE Portland location is one of FWR's facilities that receives and sorts residential and commercial recyclable materials. On this tour, you will see the inside of a recycling facility and learn about the process of receiving, sorting, and preparing recyclable materials for market.

Conference Sessions

Welcome Lunch and Keynote – Loving Ugly Food with Jordan Figueiredo 

We've often looked at food waste as just "waste" or "scraps" but it can be so much more. Not only is preventing wasted food the right thing to do, businesses can profit while simultaneously providing valuable community benefits. And, most of all, preventing wasted food can be heartwarming, fun and tasty! 

Weaving in his work on the internationally successful @UglyFruitAndVeg Campaign along with his nationally successful Zero Food Waste Forum, Jordan Figueiredo shows you how to access the power of food to engage and inspire businesses and their customers to prevent wasted food and feed those in need. Boost your food waste prevention toolkit with this fun and thought-provoking presentation.

Sustainable Product Design

For more than 30 years, product designers and consumers have relied on a list of simple attributes to reduce the environmental impacts of materials: attributes such as recyclability, recycled content, degradability, and compostability. But recent research suggests that these attributes don't consistently lead to environmental improvements, and experience is showing that a variety of approaches may be needed to reduce environmental impacts of products…after all, it just depends.  Join us in a thought provoking discussion with Oregon DEQ, Nike, and the Green Electronics Council as they describe their efforts to develop new products and measures for success.

Speakers: Jim Goddard (Nike), Jordan Palmeri (Oregon DEQ), Wayne Rifer (Green Electronics Council) Moderator: David Allaway (Oregon DEQ)

Tools to Waste Less Food at Home

The average U.S. household throws away a quarter of all food they purchase. That is like going to the store, leaving one of your four bags in the parking lot and driving away. Learn about the work of regional and local governments to help residents prevent food from being wasted at home.

Speakers: Ashley Zanolli (Oregon DEQ), Brian Stafki (Washington County), Bill Beamer (City of Portland), Griselda Puga (Marion County) Moderator: Elizabeth Cole (City of Beaverton)

Clean Fleet

Join industry and government experts in the learning about the latest trends in the performance of cleaner trucks and fuels. This panel will feature local specialists from the state, a trucking company and a local hauler.

Speakers: Cory-Ann Wind (Oregon DEQ), Tom Timbario (Emissions Advantage), Gary Nelson (Waste Management) Moderator: Matt Tracy (Metro)

Organizational Tools for Diversity and Equity

Learn how to create strategies and best practices for increasing diversity and equity at your organization. This session will teach you how to engage employees, create an equity map for organizations and companies and tools to bring to your own circles of influence.

Speakers: Hays Witt (Partnership for Working Families), Desirée Williams-Rajee (City of Portland), Therese McLain, Republic Services Moderator: Wing Grabowski (City of Portland)

The Rise of Multifamily Recycling

The multifamily sector is growing quickly in many of our cities and provides significant opportunity for increasing recyling. Find out the latest trends in Oregon’s multifamily growth from industry experts. Learn exciting new research on what’s worked well to improve multifamily recycling programs in Portland and other west coast cities.

Speakers: Dave Bachman (Multifamily Northwest), McKenna Morrigan (Cascadia Consulting), Sara Kirby (Metro) Moderator: Heather Robinson (Washington County)

More. Better. Recycling: Cleaning Up the Stream through Best Practice Communications

The Recycling Partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) are currently engaged in an innovative pilot study to test and validatecommunications BMPs though recovery rate studies with the goal of developing a DIY toolkit for local governments. This interactive session will provide a mini workshop on improving material quality at the curb with visual and operational BMPs with initial finding from the pilots and information on where to find additional tools and resources.  

Speakers: Karen Bandhauer, Jason Hale, Justin Gast (The Recycling Partnership)

June 9 - Thursday

Table Topics

• Reuse Oregon - Creating a Statewide Reuse Network
• Communicating with Diverse Audiences
• Metro Conisders Regulating MRFs that Accept Commingled Source Separated Recyclables
• Master Recycler Program Coordinators Networking
• Business Recycling Programs
• Food Rescue
• Wasted Food Prevention
• Multifamily Recycling
• WRAP Plastic Film Recycing
• School Education Programs

Plenary: AOR Year in Review and Policy Session

What has the AOR Board been up to this past year and how should we direct our energy this upcoming year?  This session presents an overview of AOR's organizational efforts in the past year.  Board members will be on hand to discuss committee work, AOR’s financial state, legislative priorities and general organizational news.  This is a prime opportunity to offer guidance on how AOR can better serve you in the upcoming year and beyond.  An open Q&A period offers all AOR members the chance to pose their questions directly to board members.

Markets Panel

The last year was a bumpy ride for recyclable commodity markets and the economics of recycling have definitely changed. This session will be a recap of what has happened to recycling markets over the last year, why it happened, where they stand today, and what may happen next.  The session features industry professionals as they discuss different materials and the related market environments.  Materials covered will be organics, plastics, metals, and fiber (paper) grades. 

Speakers: Bob Kovich (Jordan Trading), Dennis Denton (Denton Plastics), Mike Ingalls (Far West Recycling), Matthew Cotton (Integrated Waste Management Consulting)  Moderator:  Vinod Singh (AOR Markets Chair)

Networking and Partnerships in Reuse

This session will focus on the efficiency and maintenance of reuse networks and partnerships. Speakers will discuss reuse networking opportunities in the Metro region, building mutually beneficial relationships to find the best and highest use for materials and the challenges of handling odd items.

Speakers: Mark Haley (Habitat ReStore), Dorothy Fisher Atwood (ResourceFULL Use PDX), Debra Taevs (ResourceFULL Use PDX), Alicia Polacok (City of Portland) Moderator: Emily Murkland (PSU Community Environmental Services)

Good Green Fun: Hosting Sustainable Events

Learn the best practice for greening and hosting zero waste events from three sustainable event experts. Each of the panelists has experience organizing and managing large, complex events with thousands of attendees. This session will provide your with tips for organizing and supporting local green events.

Speakers: Rick Hodges (Oregon Convention Center), Deveron Musgrave (City of Eugene) Moderator: Sarah Grimm (Lane County)

The Business of Reuse: Challenges and Successes in Reused Materials

This session showcases businesses and organizations that have successfully navigated the challenge of turning discarded materials into new products. Experts will share challenges that reuse businesses face and how they overcome them, sharing scrap materials and partnership opportunities, supply chain, cost savings for reuse, perception in the marketplace about the value of reuse, and making the business case for reuse. 

Speakers: Graham Bergh (Resource Revival), Terry McDonald (St. Vincent DePaul), Jeremy Sievert (Looptworks); Moderator: Joanna Dyer

Stabilizing Rates in Unstable Markets

This session will explore different rate methodologies and how to deal with rate setting with unstable recycling markets. Rich McConaghy from City of Vancouver will focus on the rate model in Vancouver, where the cost of the recycling service is carved out from the garbage service. Dan Blue (formerly of City of Gresham) and Shannon Martin will discuss the new methodology in Gresham, which removes the recycling revenue/processing cost from the rate model. Chris Bell will discuss different rate setting methodologies from a rate consultant’s perspective. 

Speakers: Chris Bell (Bell & Associates), Dan Blue (Metro), Rich McConaghy (City of Vancouver), Shannon Martin (City of Gresham) Moderator: Kristin Leichner (Pride Disposal)

Measuring What Matters: Recovery and Beyond

Historically the recovery rate has served as the primary measure for waste reduction programs in Oregon. However, this measure is inadequate to assess the effectiveness of efforts to reduce the environmental and human health impacts from all stages of the materials management lifecycle. Waste recovery will continue to be important, given current state statutory requirements and the need for recovery data as an input for calculating other measures. However, DEQ and Metro are laying the groundwork for new Materials Management indicators and targets to move their measurement work upstream. 

Speakers: Rosalynn Greene (Metro), Jordan Palmeri (Oregon DEQ)  Moderator: Dan Blue, Metro

Forging the Path in Reuse and Repair

In this session we will learn from Oregon DEQ, an innovative materials management consultant, and the Urban Sustainability Directors Network about innovations in reuse and repair. Oregon DEQ will present on their Reuse, Repair, and Product Lifespan Extension project, providing highlights of the strategic plan, a rundown of projects, and the options for advancing reuse and repair in Oregon. Stephanie Stano, a sustainability consultant, will share results of a pilot project with a national outdoor retailer, that identified and developed partnerships with reuse, repair, and upcycling businesses. Babe O'Sullivan will present on the Urban Sustainability Directors Network recently published report about measuring sustainable consumption. The work focused on establishing metrics and analysis tools to understand the impacts of consumption and the benefits of moving toward more sustainable practices such as repair, reuse, and sharing.

Speakers: David Allaway (Oregon DEQ), Lisa Heigh (Metro), Stephanie Stano (Sustainability Consultant), Babe O’Sullivan (Urban Sustainability Directors Network) Moderator: Moonrose Doherty, Sustainability Professional

Youth Engagement in Recycling

Many of the environmental problems we face today will be solved by the next generation. In this session, learn about a high school student that successfully put together a polystyrene foam food containers ban in Medford, how youth engagement in K-12 schools through the Oregon Green Schools program happens in over 200 certified schools throughout the state and Metro’s upstream waste prevention outreach through questing at the Oregon Zoo.

Speakers: Manar Alattar (PSU Sustainability Office), Sam Becker (Claremont McKenna College Student), Laurel Bates (Clackamas County), Darwin Eustaquio (Metro) Moderator: Tony Hair (PSU Sustainability Office)

Repair Cafe

Don’t miss Thursday night’s Repair Cafe in the Exhibit Hall. This event is hosted by Repair PDX, recipient of the Association of Oregon Recyclers’ 2015 Alice Soderwall Reuse & Waste Prevention Award. Repair PDX formed in 2013 to bring repair events to Portland residents. Inspired by the Netherlands’ Repair Cafes, this group of dedicated volunteers holds free repair events about once a month. 

Inspired by Repair PDX, Washington County, Gresham, and West Linn have started Repair Fairs in their communities. Representatives from all four organizations will be on hand to talk about what they’re doing and answer your questions. Come experience this growing international movement to spread repair culture. Learn more about the Portland Metro organizations at http://repairpdx.org and on Facebook.

You can just observe or bring your broken small appliances, bikes, garments, and other textiles. Volunteer fixers will be on hand to repair your items and teach you how to fix them yourself. Repair PDX can’t guarantee they’ll be able to fix your items, but they will give it their best effort.

 What to Bring

•   Broken items and any replacement parts you think you might need.

•   Clothing and other garments - should be clean, please!

•   Curiosity, patience, and a DIY attitude.

June 10 - Friday

Breakfast with ROY Winners

Join AOR in recognizing outstanding contributors to recycling in Oregon! AOR will present Recycler of the Year awards to individuals and organizations that have made exceptional contributions to recycling and waste prevention efforts. Each award winner will share information about their programs and answer questions from the audience. 

Plenary: Salem’s Been Busy: Legislative Update

Legislative updates, including updates on Bottle Bill changes set to occur in 2017 and DEQ actions associated with passing of SB 245 and SB 263. Chris and I will provide our summaries of the 2015 and 2016 sessions, as well as what to look forward to in 2017. We will also address the Bottle Bill. David will provide a high-level summary of SB 245 and SB 263, as well as a summary of initial actions completed, in progress, and to be conducted in the next few years, including rulemakings.

Speakers: Chris Parta (AOR Lobbyist), David Allaway (Oregon DEQ) Moderator: Justin Gast (AOR Markets Chair)

Business & Organics Recovery: A Love/Mandate Relationship

Join us for an inside look at how our neighboring states are choosing to increase Organics recovery through mandatory commercial organics collection programs – statewide in California, and at the local level in Seattle, WA. 

With the passage of AB 1826, businesses (as well as public entities and multi-family complexes), will be required to divert their organic waste as of April 1, 2016.  The new law will phase in diversion of organic waste over a 5 year period, depending on how much organic waste and trash the business generates.  Veronica Pardo, Regulatory Affairs Director for the California Refuse Recycling Council, and Chuck White, a Government Affairs Consultant who worked closely with legislators and regulators during the development of AB 1826, will share their insights into how this law came to pass, what it hopes to accomplish, and how they anticipate it will work “on the ground” as the programs roll out around the state.

Sego Jackson, Waste Prevention Strategic Advisor from Seattle Public Utilities, will provide an overview of Seattle’s Mandatory Organics Recovery program and discuss the strategies being pursued for increased diversion and success.

Speakers: Veronica Pardo (California Refuse Recycling Council), Chuck White (Chuck White Consulting), Sego Jackson (Seattle Public Utilities) Moderator: Pete Chism-Winfield (City of Portland)

Oregon's Recycling Frontier: Reuse, Roundups, and Innovative Rural Recycling Methods

Discover how organizations outside the Willamette river valley support sustainable communities. Do you think the market is affecting your organization in the Metro area? Wait to you live hours away from the closest MRF. Find out how these organizations cope with fluctuating markets.

Speakers: Karen Reddick Yurka (CARTM Recycling), Denise Barnes (Rogue Disposal) Moderator: Nick Isbister (City of Gresham)