This award was given to Delyn Kies in recognition of her many years as a leader in sustainable materials management in Oregon. Delyn helped draft the 1983 Oregon Recycling Opportunity Act, which required cities with populations over 4,000 to provide a minimum of monthly curbside recycling service to all garbage service customers.

Republic Services is one of the leading providers of organics collection and processing in the Oregon region. The Process and Recovery Center opened in 1992 and was first used to process urban wood and to make hog fuel. In 1993, they began to process yard debris there. Republic Services started the first curbside yard debris program in Oregon, in the City of Corvallis and that material was taken to The Process and Recovery Center.

David McCall was hired as Tillamook County’s solid waste director in 2012. Since then he has helped to launch many programs that have helped advanced sustainable materials management in Oregon.

These programs include:

Birch Community Services was started in 1992. Their mission is to provide a community where people can be responsible and accountable for meeting their basic needs and to equip them with tools to overcome financial difficulty. They do this by providing education to clients, facilitating a network of food and product donation, and they share their bounty with partner agencies.

This year's keynote address at the 2017 Sustainable Oregon Conference at Salishan Spa and Golf Resort on June 7th was jam-packed with information presented by Nina Goodrich, Executive Director of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition.

Fort George Brewery opened in Astoria in March 2007. They have always kept their environmental impact in mind.

Astoria does not have any sustainability or solid waste and recycling staff, so Fort George hired their own Sustainability Director, Renee, in May of 2016.

The ReBuilding Center focuses on the highest parts of the waste hierarchy; Reduce and Reuse. They inspire people to make mindful use of the excess materials from local construction and deconstruction projects, which greatly reduces the need for these items to be processed in local transfer stations.

On Friday, June 10th at its 39th Annual Conference, the Association of Oregon Recyclers presented awards to outstanding businesses, individuals, and organizations in the fields of recycling, reuse, and sustainability.

The winners in each category were:

Last week the AOR membership gathered on the beautiful, albeit rainy, Oregon Coast for our 36th annual conference.  During Board elections members voted to fill several Board seats and we're thrilled to have so many new faces join the Board!

What do bottles of wine, bags of compost and two airline tickets all have in common? They were all items in the silent auction at AORs latest Sustainable Oregon conference. Items donated by business such as Fort George Brewing, DIY Bar and Rexius Inc. helped to raise more than $2,400 for AORs scholarship fund. Add in the $1,025 raised from the 50/50 raffle and together we raised close to $3,500!!