Oregon Residents Generate More Trash but Increase Recycling Efforts

As Oregonians generate more trash, they have also been able to increase their recycling and composting efforts.

According to Sustainable Life, in 2017, Oregonians recovered 2,327,645 tons of waste, or 42.8 percent of all waste generated, compared to 42.2 percent in 2016. However, experts do not expect Oregon to meet a state goal of recovering 52 percent of all waste by 2020.

Sustainable Life has more details:

Oregonians generated more garbage in 2017 than the prior year, but managed to increase the share of waste that was avoided via recycling, composting or burning trash to produce energy.

In 2017, Oregonians recovered 2,327,645 tons of waste, or 42.8 percent of all waste generated, compared to 42.2 percent in 2016, according to the annual Oregon Material Recovery and Waste Generation Report released Wednesday, Dec. 19, by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

Peter Spendelow, DEQ's waste reduction specialist, speculates that the increase is partly due to the booming economy, along with the doubling of the state's nickel deposit on returnable beverage containers under the Oregon Bottle Bill.

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