McMinnville, Oregon, residents will soon be able to recycle polystyrene thanks to a partnership between Recology Western Oregon, the city’s waste hauler, and Agilyx Corp., Tigard, Oregon.

Recology Western Oregon had asked city council in November to approve a 5 percent increase in monthly trash collection rates next year because of rising recycling costs; but, before the increase was approved, the issue of polystyrene foal recycling arose from Zero Waste McMinnville, which has a goal to make McMinnville the first city in Oregon to divert 90 percent of waste from landfill by 2024.

Agilyx Corp. offered to reprocess the city’s discarded polystyrene foam if Recology agreed to establish a drop-off site at its transfer station and provide the hauling services. Recology returned to council to request a 5.5 percent increase rate for 2019 to support the extra costs of the new program.

“We took another hard look at this and we’re very pleased to propose a Styrofoam program,” Recology Western Oregon General Manager Carl Peters told city council. “We saw three options: To not have a program, to approve the program and associated costs but delay the implementation or to approve the program and associated costs and get this off the ground.”

McMinnville City Council approved the 5.5 recycling rate increase and commended Recology for proposing a program that fit the city's recycling needs.

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