Between 17% and 30% of the waste clogging our landfill is foodstuffs and yard debris. Instead, these materials could be composted into a beneficial garden product. Attending a free compost workshop is a great way to get you started. For beginners and experienced composters alike, the workshops cover how composting works, what materials to use, the differing techniques and site specific trouble shooting problems. If you have questions, contact the city of Eugene's Compost Specialist, 682-5542.
Fall 2001Oct. 13 Sat. 10-11:30am MCG
Oct. 20 Sat. 3-4:30pm RH
Nov. 10 Sat. 10-11:30am GRG
Locations:
RH = Riverhouse compost education garden at Maurie Jacobs park.
MCG = Mathews Community Gardens, 15th and Hayes.
GRG = Grass Roots Gardens, 1465 Coburg Rd. (behind St. Thomas Episcopal Church)
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Your donations
make a difference! Help us keep usable materials out of the landfill. Your donations make it possible for us to:
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• Recycle plastic nursery pots—16 tons to dateBRING Walks the Talk—
Our “New” Recycled Trailer
BRING has recently been busy with several deconstruction jobs, so the need for another flatbed trailer to handle all those great reusable building materials has become quite apparent. Coincidentally, we acquired an old mobile home when we purchased the property for our warehouse. While we would not normally take apart a mobile home, we needed to do something with this one to clear the site. What was once an obstruction turned into a resource, a 50 foot long steel frame on wheels. A perfect base for a trailer.
With the handy torch wielding work of BRING employee, Allen Burton and our long time fix-it-all guru Ray Ford, the frame was shortened to a more street friendly 16 feet and strengthened up for its future hauling jobs. The Lane County Hazardous Waste center donated metallic blue automotive paint that they were glad to see put to good use. There was plenty to give the trailer a nice paint job. From an earlier deconstruction job (Serbu house, Eugene), we salvaged one and one-quarter inch thick plywood for the decking. Once a storage box was built on the front, handy Allen whipped up a scrap metal snake sculpture to act as a handle. It looks ferocious, but don’t worry, it won’t bite! The final touch was a coat of donated Thompson’s Water Seal applied over the decking to protect it.
Although the trailer sits on the original 14-1/2 inch wheels and tires, we are on the lookout for a good used set of 15 inch Chevrolet wheels. We're hoping that if we put that wish out there, the “dump Gods” will smile on us one more time. So far, the only new items purchased for this awesome trailer were the wiring, tail lights and some steel. It goes to show you, a little planning and modification is all it takes to create something useful from scrap.—DDamien Czech
This year marks the 30th anniversary of HB 1036, popularly known as the Bottle BillCone of the most influential pieces of environmental legislation ever passed into law in Oregon and the first bill of its kind in the nation. HB 1036 required beverage distributors to encourage bottle redemption via a deposit and refund system. It proved an incredibly popular and successful strategy to reduce roadside litter, which was its primary aim. Despite the fact that the nickel deposit buys a whole lot less than it did in 1971, 85% of returnable containers are still redeemed. This does not include a fair percentage that end up being recycled curbside without redeeming the deposit.
The Bottle Bill jump started Oregon's recycling industry, then in its infancy. It remains a most effective means of keeping resources out of the landfill and off the roadsides. Some 57% of glass containers are recycled in Oregon, compared to 25% nationwide. Nearly 90% of glass bottles covered by the Bottle Bill are recycled, proving how effective the deposit is as an incentive. Aluminum and PET (#1 plastic bottles) recycling rates are similarly influenced. The contribution to the environment goes further than just saving the resources cans and bottles are made from. Aluminum manufacturing is incredibly energy intensive, a fact that has become all too apparent in this summer of electricity shortages. It takes 90% less energy to remanufacture used beverage cans into new ones than it does to make them out of virgin material. It takes 10% less energy to make new bottles from recycled glass. Recycling saves energy and the Bottle Bill encourages recycling.The Bottle Bill had another effect. It made Oregonians proud. We were recognized across the nation for our leadership and innovation. The Bottle Bill helped define the way we thought about ourselves and fueled the recycling ethic that has become a core value in the state. But times, and with them the beverage industry, have changed. Dozens of new drinks packaged in single serve containers have hit the market, drinks that are not covered by the bottle bill. Sports beverages, iced teas and bottled waters have taken market share, drinks, which like sodas, are often consumed away from homeCand away from recycling bins. Without the incentive of a deposit, there is very little motivation to make sure they are recycled. Other states, notably Maine and California have amended their bottle bills to include these drinks but so far, Oregon has not followed suit. It's not for lack of trying. Five years ago, in 1996, a bill to expand the Bottle Bill went before the voters. Despite strong support (4-1 in favor) from the public at the outset, heavy lobbying from the beverage distributors and an aggressive ad campaign resulted in a reversal at the polls. The bill, Measure 37, was defeated. The beverage industry spent over $3 million dollars to defeat the measure.
The Bottle Bill is a perfect example of Extended Producer Responsibility, a much vaunted concept in the recycling industry. Beverage distributors, grocers and the buying public form a team that share the responsibility for managing the waste generated by beer and soft drinks. It's an effective system, and one that needs to be brought up to date.—Julie Daniel
Drop sites and preparation • County transfer and recycling sites • What to do with everything else
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