Oregon News

DEQ is pleased to announce the long-awaited release of a critical meta-analysis of packaging materials asking the basic question: ‘Do popular packaging attributes including recycled and biobased content, recyclability and compostability correlate with lower environmental impacts?’

Oregon’s iconic Bottle Bill is being celebrated with a new sculpture in Salem. In 1971, Oregon became the first state in the nation to require a deposit on beverage containers for soda and beer. That landmark legislation is the inspiration for a new nine-foot-tall steel and aluminum sculpture in downtown Salem.

Last year, Oregon's 5-cent bottle deposit went up to 10 cents, and the number of bottles being redeemed has skyrocketed.

From July through September of this year, the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative says 500 million cans and bottles were turned in around the state.

But many of those came from across state lines, mainly Washington.

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Oregon and Colorado have very different recycling landscapes but are seeing a similar trend: stagnating recycling numbers.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has proposed issuing a solid waste material recovery facility permit to Georgia-Pacific Toledo LLC, part of Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific. 

The proposed recycling plant, called the GP Toledo Material Recovery Facility, appears equipped to further GP’s research into its Juno technology, which is being designed in part to recover and consume mixed paper.  

On the Oregon Department of Energy's latest episode of Grounded, they’re talkin’ trash in Southern Oregon at

The Commonway Institute director talks about the intersection between homelessness and waste management

From Street Roots, November 24th, by Jared Paben

Shariff Abdullah asked the crowd if they’d ever heard the expression “poor white trash.” Hands raised throughout the hotel ballroom. 

New Recycling Opportunities for Residents and Businesses that Share Garbage Collection Service

From the Salem Reporter, by Troy Brynelson

A proposed hike in garbage bills will get a public hearing at Salem City Council next week. Staff reports released Thursday suggest the six garbage hauling companies are struggling in 2018.

Art Kuenzi played a sort of garbage man’s roulette Thursday morning. Every blue recycling bin on Southeast 45th Avenue could be good or bad.

Good meant flipping open a bin to find cardboard, newspaper or dry plastic milk jugs. Bad bins held soggy fast-food cups or cheap plastic packaging.