China's Policy Change Poses Challenges for Recycling Oregon Plastics
Submitted by AOR
22
Feb
2018
China's recent decision to no longer accept post-consumer plastics has left local recyclers facing a serious challenge.
Oregon currently doesn't have a facility designed to separate plastics from the other materials collected.
Denton Plastics in Northeast Portland accepts plastics, but the material comes in separated from commercial and industrial sources, like grocery chains and nurseries.
In response to China's recent policies restricting the amount of contamination in recyclables it accepts, Coos County has reduced its contamination in its recycling by 85 percent in just two months.
Waste Today reports: 
Last fall, Manzanita became the fifth city in the state (joining Portland, Corvallis, Eugene, and McMinnville) and the first on the Oregon Coast to ban single-use plastic carryout bags. The Manzanita City Council voted unanimously to pass the ordinance in an effort to reduce plastic debris on beaches and in the Pacific Ocean.
As vendors across Oregon curb their recycling services, Milton-Freewater residents will no longer be able to recycle materials at their curbs.
Metro approved final administrative rules, effective March 1, 2018, to guide the licensing and inspection of facilities that receive source-separated recyclable materials as well as some facilities that convert waste to energy or fuel.