Metro Council Proceeds with Caution on Garbage Next Steps

13 Jan 2016

At a work session Jan. 12 the Metro Council directed staff to explore two options that use the Portland region’s garbage as a resource: burning trash to make electricity, and post-collection garbage sorting that could increase what the region already recycles. 

These steps are the latest in a series the council has taken as Metro approaches the 2019 expiration of the contract that has most of the region’s one million tons of garbage each year going to landfills. It’s a rare opportunity to make changes to the system. The current landfill arrangement started in the early 1990s.

“For an engineer, a project like this doesn’t come along very often,” said Metro solid waste operations director Paul Ehinger in his discussion with the council. Metro solid waste engineer Rob Smoot presented additional information about the potential benefits Metro could explore in generating energy from garbage and reducing landfill disposal along with the questions that still need to be answered to determine if new approaches are viable.

After the presentation and discussion, the council directed Metro staff to pursue two specific options that would reduce the amount of garbage going to landfills. But the direction comes with caveats. Councilor Sam Chase echoed the sentiments of other councilors when raising the question of environmental benefits. “That’s a baseline criteria for me,” he said.

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