The State of Oregon has set a state wide target to not increase levels of per capita waste generation in 2005 and through subsequent years. (ORS 459A.010). Marion County’s per capita waste generation rate for 2004 was calculated at 2,875 pounds per capita. The ODEQ reports that average waste per capita generated in 2007 increased 11.9% to 3,2165. The increase in the per capita waste generation rate is a
result of many factors outside the control of the County. These include such things as consumer buying habits, packaging and marketing of products, and the overall economy. Even so the County needs to continue to explore alternatives to produce effective strategies in promotion and education to reduce per capita waste generation and meet the State-wide target. Over the last decade new approaches, like Community-Based Social Marketing, have emerged as an effective alternative for delivering programs to foster sustainable behavior including waste reduction. The five steps of Community-Based Social Marketing are: selecting behaviors, identifying barriers, developing strategies, conducting a pilot, and broad scale implementation. This strategy has shown to be effective in both waste reduction as well as waste diversion efforts.
The State of Oregon has also set Marion County’s targeted recovery rate at 54 percent by 2009. To maintain at least the 2007 calculated recovery rate of 56.5 percent and assure achievement of the 2009 goal, the County must sustain current recycling levels while striving to seek growth in the amount of targeted materials recovered. The PWES program must include the following:
• Continue to receive the available 2% credits by maintaining comprehensive Waste Prevention, Reuse and Residential Composting promotion and education programs, for a 6% total credit to the County’s Recovery Rate; • Continue to budget sufficient funds and dedicate resources at current levels or
better in order to execute the programs;
• Increase participation levels in current programs and services; and,
• Continue to research and develop innovative services to customers that present the greatest potential to reduce the amount of waste generated per capita and to increase the amount of recovered materials.
Based on discussions with County staff, franchised collection companies, and other private recycling system participants and from research of other programs in selected communities, there are several specific areas that could contribute to meeting the recovery rate goal. These areas are:
1. Increase participation in residential curbside recycling collection programs; 2. Further evaluate recycling opportunities with multi-family units;
3. Increase opportunities to recycle more material from commercial generators; 4. Examine markets or market development for recyclable materials currently in
the waste stream; and
5. Explore the application of Community Based Social Marketing to waste reduction, reuse and recycling efforts in the County.
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Expanding commingled residential curbside recycling collection into areas currently serviced by separated collection or drop-off only services could encourage increased recycling participation. Commingled collections are easier on residents, as they are not required to separate the materials they set out for recycling, and higher participation is expected in areas with existing programs of separated recycling. In addition, utilizing the larger, automated cart containers rather than smaller bin/basket containers will allow residents to include more volume of collected materials and enable efficient automated collections. Labels on cart lids will provide constant reminder and consistent education of program parameters and assist with participation and compliance, further boosting recovery.
Other tools are available that may be used to increase waste recovery rates including pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) or other rate incentive programs and government mandates. Pay-as-you-throw and rate incentive waste programs raise awareness among individuals on the cost of waste collection and disposal and the available recycling alternatives. Government mandates could increase recycling participation by penalizing customers for non-compliance with recycling requirements. The County generally prefers to use incentive-based programs, rather than regulatory programs, however.
Multi-family recycling is limited in Marion County. In some places, multi-family housing units have centralized areas where recycled materials can be deposited, but many multi-family units have no on-site facilities. Currently, the County is working with property management companies that want to provide an opportunity to recycle for their residents through coordination with franchised haulers. In most cases, multi-family residents must use recycling drop-off centers to dispose of their recyclables. Participation in recycling by multi-family residents can be increased by implementing a program that is on-site and convenient for multi-family residents. Assistance from franchised haulers is needed to create an affordable and consistent program, coupled with education, to ensure participation and compliance.
Other recycling programs that can be expanded include business recycling, food waste composting, and construction, demolition and land-clearing debris material recycling. Garten and the franchised haulers are soliciting and facilitating the set up of business recycling programs in multi-tenant facilities requiring the coordination of many different entities. It is operated under the name of “SCOOP” or “Saturated Collection of Office Paper”. This program, and others like it, could be expanded to increase recycling in the commercial sector. The Compost Oregon facility receives and processes all of the curbside yard waste collected by franchised haulers in Marion County as well as any yard waste delivered to SKRTS. However, they receive very little Marion County food waste for composting. Food waste represents over 21 percent, or more than 52,000 tons of County waste destined for disposal. Compost Oregon may eventually have capacity to accept more of this material for composting. Alternately, other business ventures may be interested in providing this service as they do for other jurisdictions in the northwest. Since disposal costs at out-of-County landfills are less than facilities in the County-wide system, some C/D waste material is leaving the County. Recycling could be increased by processing these materials at County owned or in-County located facilities.
Participation and recycling rate increases may result from program improvements that simplify the process, reduce the cost to recycle the material, and/or otherwise
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provide incentives for participants to recycle. Certain cities and their franchised haulers have already started initiatives, such as commingled collection of recyclables, which are expected to increase waste quantities diverted to recycling. The County must also continue to promote waste reduction programs where residents are educated on the use of improved packaging, nontoxic household products, and reusable products.