On Friday, July 24, DEQ will open its 2020 Materials Management grants round for projects that reduce impacts across the full cycle of materials and products.
Nike started selling sneakers from its new Space Hippie collection. The footwear is constructed from factory and post-consumer waste that the sportswear company calls “space junk.” Space Hippie consists of four different silhouettes: 01, 02, 03, and 04. Nike’s manufacturing process for the footwear uses around 85–90% recycled polyester yarn, recycled foam, and a blended “Crater foam.” The result is a design that has a low carbon footprint, the company said.
Nine Wallowa County citizens are riding to the rescue of Wallowa County’s troubled, financially strapped recycling center. Led by Peter Ferre and Randi Jandt, the newly-organized Wallowa County Recycling Task Force (WCRTF) has offered to help the county optimize its return on recycled materials, and also provide better signage and community education, as well as volunteers to provide help and guidance for county residents when they bring materials to recycle.
Red Rock Ag Products LLC, a Vale-based company, received $25,000 for a project to recycle drip tape in mass quantities. The company intends to establish and operate a recycling plant in the Treasure Valley; an initial location was scouted at an empty warehouse in southwest Ontario.
The warehouse will employ up to 12 people. Red Rock estimates the project will cost $705,900.
Metro, in partnership with Agilyx, will now collect expanded polystyrene foam, also known as Sytrofoam, products at the facility in Oregon City. Instead of going into the landfill, these items will be recycled into new products.
Agilyx is an advanced recycling company that specializes in converting plastics. Before this pilot program, their facility in Tigard was one of the few places in greater Portland that could reuse polystyrene waste.
Metro, in partnership with Agilyx, will now collect expanded polystyrene foam, also known as Sytrofoam, products at the facility in Oregon City. Instead of going into the landfill, these items will be recycled into new products.
Agilyx is an advanced recycling company that specializes in converting plastics. Before this pilot program, their facility in Tigard was one of the few places in greater Portland that could reuse polystyrene waste.
Plastic film has long been identified as a major contaminant in municipal materials recovery programs. Research from the West Coast shows just how challenging it has been to educate residents around proper bag behavior.
Recycling has been the subject of many negative headlines over the past two years: “The World’s Recycling is in Chaos;” “RIP: Recycling is Dead as We Know It;” “Recycling is a Waste.” The list goes on. Of the communities surveyed in The Recycling Partnership’s 2019 “The State of Curbside Recycling” report, more than 50 have canceled their recycling programs, and 29 percent have stopped collecting certain items.
The scope and scale of the food waste challenge in America is daunting. Recognizing the gravity, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, through its EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge program, is encouraging and empowering local programs to craft local solutions to this pervasive problem. EPA is incentivizing participation in the program by showcasing local food waste prevention champions, both nationally and regionally.
California and Oregon recently reported lower statewide diversion rates, a trend that’s been ongoing for multiple years in both states.
Given the latest results, California will fall short of its 75% recycling rate goal for 2020, state officials acknowledged in their recent report.
In 2018, the Beaver State notched a 40.8% recovery rate, down from 41.6% in 2017, according to an April report from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
