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Oregon may have a great reputation for recycling, but that doesn’t mean everyone is doing it right.

Numbers show an average of 25 percent of recycling in the United States is garbage, according to the National Waste & Recycling Association.

In the Portland metro, about 9 percent of what’s in a homeowner’s recycling bin is usually trash, according to Metro.

China’s ban on many recycled items is coming home to roost in Oregon but Curry County is faring well, said recycling coordinator Candi Wilk of Curry Transfer and Recycling, the company that provides trash and recycling services here.

Since the announcement China wouldn’t take more loads of contaminated material — or plastics marked with Nos. 3 to 7 — CTR has merely eliminated them from the items that can be recycled, as well.

Right now, curbside composting of residential food waste is available in the cities of Bend, Redmond and Sisters—but not the wider county. But in the (somewhat) near future, those living in the wider county could see curbside composting come to them. The Deschutes County Solid Waste Advisory Committee has been working on a Solid Waste Management Plan for the past year and is expected to present a final draft of the plan to the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners in May.

With companies looking to reduce waste promising all packaging to be recyclable or compostable in the coming years, Oregon Composters have united in their efforts to keep Oregon's composting programs "food only". Click here to read why.

Metro Council voted to approve a plan that will shape the way greater Portland manages the garbage and recycling system for the next 12 years – including everything from the way products are made to how to shape jobs in the industry.

The 2030 Regional Waste Plan is the fourth such plan that Metro has crafted — a process it goes through roughly once a decade. 

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As states and others try to manage waste using more holistic paradigms, they'll need clearly documented strategies. Here's how to formulate a dynamic roadmap that will help shape an effective sustainable materials management plan.

Continue reading article from the January print edition of Resource Recycling. 

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality today announced a $553,750 settlement with Total Reclaim, Inc. The settlement resolves the state’s long-running investigation into TRI’s operations under Oregon’s E-Cycles program, a program that encourages Oregon consumers to recycle electronic devices in a safe and sustainable manner. This settlement follows resolution of a related DEQ penalty action against TRI in September, 2018 for alleged violation of the state’s hazardous waste laws.

An ongoing challenge in the food industry is keeping your food costs down without diminishing food quality. One of the keys to success is food waste prevention.

Join national experts from the food industry Dr. Steve Schein and Ned Barker to learn more about how to reduce food waste in your business, empower your employees, reduce your environmental impact, and improve your bottom line.

These interactive workshops will help you create a Strategic Roadmap for your business based on best practices from the Hotel | Kitchen website. Some pre-work will be suggested.

Lunch at Garfield Elementary School in Corvallis was unsurprisingly chaotic Friday, with dozens of kids picking up hot lunches, eating and talking.

But in the center of the room was an island of order as a small team of students and an adult volunteer helped kids sort their compostable items and trash into the appropriate bins. The composting program, which was started in 2015, has significantly reduced the amount of trash the school produces during lunch.

Solutions to preserve access and reduce contamination are emerging from municipalities, partners and citizen-led efforts in states such as Oregon, Virginia and New Hampshire.

Hardships caused by China's global recycling industry disruptions have been particularly acute in small U.S. cities and towns over the past year. But in the face of adversity, a number of them have devised solutions to keep recycling programs alive — at least to some degree.