The Oregon House Committee on Energy and Environment held an informational hearing on the recycling markets issue earlier this week.

The speakers included Abbey Boudouris and Brian Fuller from DEQ, Kristin Mitchell from ORRA, and Michael Wisth from the city of Eugene.

They did a great job providing an overview of the situation and discussing how local areas are responding.

Oregon DEQ's Peter Spendelow and ORRA's Kristan Mitchell sit down on OPB's "Think Out Loud" to discuss three things you should never put in your curbside bin. 

Story and Photo from Allison Frost/OPB.

Read more and listen here.

Although China announced they are suspending the inspection process for US material headed to China, from May 4 through June 4, 2018, it did not have a large impact on the commodities we ship.  Mainly, because we export very little material into China anymore.  The continued trade restrictions and bans on the commodities we produce have all but shut the door for us to send recovered materials to them. 

WasteDive provides a great look at how China's recycling import policies are impacting all of us around the U.S.

Communities across Oregon  - and around the country - are struggling with contaminated recyclables, which has contributed to a sharp drop in interest in U.S. recycled materials from China, the major market for them. 

Contamination happens when we put things into recycling bins that can't be recycled and/or are dirty (i.e., trash, items with food residue).

Resource Recycling compiled a great summary of “Recycling Markets Development in the 21st Century,” a workshop co-hosted by the National Recycling Coalition (NRC) and the Association of Oregon Recyclers (AOR) on April 4, 2018.

China, which had been receiving more than half of the world's recycling, is no longer accepting most plastics and recycled paper with a contamination level above 0.5 percent as part of its "National Sword" policy. ​

Meeting this new quality specification has been almost impossible for U.S. processors. Oregon processors have been looking elsewhere, and it's costing more money.

Central Oregon Residents are asked to be more careful about what they put in recycling bins. On January first, China stopped taking most recycling from western nations, claiming recyclables were contaminated with trash and organic material. 

​KGW news reports,if the item has been on Metro's list of acceptable recyclables, it is still okay to put into the bin.