Waste Reduction Programs

Reduction of solid waste generated by residents and commercial establishments is a priority of the County’s solid waste management program. This is reflected in the objectives adopted in this 2008 SWMP, which should be used to establish priorities. The objectives pertaining to waste reduction, reuse and recycling are as follows:

1. To provide an integrated solid waste management system that achieves an effective combination of strategies and programs guided by the principles adopted in the state hierarchy: reduce waste at the source, reuse and recycle materials, compost, recover energy, and land disposal.

2. To continue educating consumers in order to promote practices and methods to reduce the long-term per capita waste generation and seek, through community outreach, a cooperative spirit to assume individual responsibility to prevent waste.

3. To promote an approach for managing solid waste that supports continuation of building a more sustainable future.

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4. To develop programs and support implementation of facilities that seek to ensure materials recovered from the waste stream attain the highest and best use and are recycled.

In keeping with these objectives, the County, cities and service providers have implemented several waste reduction initiatives described below.

Promotion, Advertising, Education, Information, and Customer Services Programs (Including Reuse and Recycling Education)

Enlisting the public in waste recovery efforts is key to program participation and success, providing businesses and citizens with the information necessary to fully understand and properly use the recycling services available to them. Through partnerships with local businesses, trash and recyclables haulers, and citizen volunteers, PWES has developed a solid waste education outreach, promotion, and advertising program for recycling, composting and other waste reduction methods. The existing program provides information to citizens, teachers and students, businesses and institutions, and community groups. The following is a list of the various programs and services that have been instituted:

Key Educational Programs

• School presentations by a full-time Recycling Educator and qualified volunteers

• Master Recycler/Composter program classes with graduate certification and enlistment into a cadre of trained volunteers

• Green Building classes, including publication of a Sustainable Construction Guide

• Salem/Keizer Green School Program

• EarthWISE program providing resource efficiency audits and certifications for businesses desiring to identify waste reduction and recycling opportunities and achievements, as well as environmentally preferable purchasing, energy and water conservation and other sustainable practices

• College scholarships and internships to facilitate the education of more individuals in the field of solid waste management and waste reduction

• Resource library of books, videos, and lesson plans on various waste reduction, recycling, and composting topics

• Working with Mid-Valley Garbage & Recycling Association on development and distribution of recycling education and promotional materials

Key Promotional Programs

• Distributions of “Waste Matters,” a multi-page tabloid newsletter filled with recycling, waste reduction, composting, and general solid waste information, to all County residences twice a year

• Support of Allied Waste’s self-guided nature walk “Earthwalk” at the SKRTS with educational exhibits on reused and recycled content materials, waste reduction, recycling, and composting

• Regular public service announcements and news stories broadcasts via television and radio

• A regularly updated website which outlines the County’s comprehensive Recycling Program (http://www.co.marion.or.us/PW/ES/)

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• A website dedicated to providing locations for disposal and/or recycling options for a wide variety of materials (http://apps.co.marion.or.us/Recycle/) • Sponsorship of a Recycler of the Year Contest, recognizing outstanding

individuals and programs

• Recycle Art Calendar Contest at area schools

• Promotion of business paper recycling through the Saturated Collection of Office Paper (SCOOP) program run by Garten

• Support of perpetual recycling collection station for Polystyrene (Styrofoam) at local Fresh Start Market to augment County’s periodic collection events • Promotion of non-County run reuse and recycling programs including:

o Goodwill Industries’ drop-off sites throughout Marion County o St. Vincent de Paul collections of reusable items at SKRTS o Habitat for Humanity ReStore construction materials reuse store o Christmas tree recycling collections by church and scout groups

o Promotion of Recycling Drop-off Depots operated by private recycling businesses

Key Customer Services Programs

• A recycling hotline, sponsored by Mid-Valley Garbage & Recycling Association to provide residents with the latest waste prevention and recycling information. In Salem: (503) 390-4000. Toll free outside of Salem: (877) 390-4001.

• An informational website, sponsored by Mid-Valley Garbage & Recycling Association to provide residents with the latest waste prevention and recycling information (www.mrtrashrecycle.com)

• Compost demonstration sites at selected locations throughout the County • Sponsorship of compost bin sales at truckload events

• Publication of a Waste Reduction & Disposal User Guide with information on various aspects of the solid waste management system in the County

• Lending of recycling collection bins for private events or community functions PWES’s education, promotion and services program is a comprehensive approach that has demonstrated effective results in advancing the overall strategy to reduce waste. By working with collection companies and other service providers, it targets all generators of waste while continuing to educate future generations about the methods and means for reducing wastes. For instance, Garten is planning to add expanded services in 2009.

Purchasing and Production Practices

The County has implemented its own Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Policy for use by County departments. In addition, to demonstrate their own commitment to closing the recycling loop, the County ensured that the Courthouse Square Government office building, completed in 2000, incorporated products with recycled content into the design, as well as recovered as much material as possible during the construction. The building achieved a Bronze rating, based on the U.S. Building Council’s LEED Green Building Rating System. To further promote green building practices and the use of recycled content materials in construction projects, PWES offers “Green Building” classes to builders, engineers, architects, building managers and the general public.

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Commercial Programs

Commercial waste audits can be a valuable tool for businesses to recognize areas where they can improve and increase their recycling efforts, streamline processes, eliminate waste generation, and save money on waste disposal. PWES offers free technical assistance to businesses in the County including efforts such as conducting business waste audits. Waste haulers in the County also provide waste audit services similar to those offered by PWES.

In addition to commercial waste audits, for 2007, PWES developed and implemented a comprehensive business environmental assistance and certification program called Earth Workplace Initiative for Sustainable Enterprise (EarthWISE) targeting the focus areas of recycling, waste reduction and prevention, environmentally preferable purchasing, energy efficiency and conservation, water conservation and pollution prevention, and outreach and education. PWES staff report working on assessments with over 60 businesses in the last year. Businesses passing the assessment become EarthWISE-certified and are publicly recognized for their green practices, including a listing on the program’s website and a window sticker. At present, there are over a dozen EarthWISE-certified businesses, and the County demonstrated leadership by assessing and certifying its own PWES.

Garten, in conjunction with Marion County and franchised waste collection companies, has developed the SCOOP program. This program was created to increase office paper recycling by educating businesses about recycling, providing alternatives for recycling pick-ups, and designing a recycling program that best fits the individual business. The waste hauler provides outside containers and collects the paper. The paper is then taken to Garten Services where it is graded, sorted, packed, and shipped to various mills for recycling. Confidential document destruction services for paper, plastic and electronic media are also available.

Electronics Recycling

Oregon E-Cycles, established by Oregon’s Electronics Recycling Law (ORS 459A.300- .365), is a new statewide program that provides responsible recycling for computers, monitors and TVs. The program is financed by electronics manufacturers and jointly implemented with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). Oregon E-Cycles is an example of product stewardship. Product stewardship directs everyone involved in the life cycle of a product to take shared responsibility for the impacts to our health and environment that result from the production, use and end-of-life management of the product.

Beginning January 1, 2009, electronics manufacturers are required to provide responsible recycling for computers, monitors and TVs at no cost to anyone bringing seven or fewer items to a participating Oregon collector at one time. However, households, small businesses and small nonprofits may recycle more than seven at a time. These entities are requested to call ahead if they plan on bringing more than the seven item limit. Effective January 1, 2010, computers, monitors and TVs are banned from disposal in Oregon. Garten Services is state certified to receive these materials under this program.

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Garten Services and other participating organizations also collect additional types of electronics not covered by Oregon’s Electronic Recycling Law and higher volumes of the covered electronic devices than required by the law.

Home Composting

PWES operates a home composting promotion program. The objective of this program is to encourage residents to compost yard waste on their property rather than place that material at curbside for collection. Each year PWES sells compost bins to its residents in a “truckload” sale; in 2007, PWES sold over 1,000 compost bins at its May sale. Classes and literature on composting are available through PWES, as well as free technical assistance from the recycling staff.

PWES promotes “grasscycling,” or leaving grass clippings on the lawn, as a waste reduction method. The practice is promoted through the distribution of literature and electronic media published by the PWES and at composting education classes.