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Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Green Oregon Knows Its Garbage

Posted by Alex Zielinski on Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 3:44 PM

As curbside recycling (and soon, composting) projects grow across the state, Oregon receives confirmation that its on the right path when it comes to trash. According to a Department of Environmental Quality waste recovery and generation report, Oregonians diverted 46.3 percent of waste from landfills in 2010 — the state's highest rate since the report's 1992 initiation. However, the total waste generated by the state — 4.69 million tons — is slightly higher than 2009's rankings. The report also estimated that recycling and recovery saved Oregon the energy equivalent of 258 million gallons of gasoline over the past year. Woo!

Now for a classy pie chart to further illustrate the point.

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  • Department of Environmental Quality

And Portland tips the scale. The Portland metro area alone had a 51 percent recovery rate (tied with Lane County) which will undoubtedly rise after the upcoming curbside composting plan is underway. At the other end of the rankings: Wheeler County came in with the lowest recovery rate at 8 percent (but hey, at least they have a recycling page).

 

Comments (7) RSS

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1
YOU FORGOT THE APOSTRAPHE IN YOUR HEADLINE.
Posted by Graham on October 5, 2011 at 4:01 PM · Report
2
"...confirmation that its on the right path..." *it's*

Also, pretty unfair toward Wheeler County. They generate 52 pounds of waste per capita, compared to 1,353 in the Metro area. The total pounds per capita in the entire state is 1,131.

Wheeler County may not be recovering their waste at as high a rate as the metro area, but they are generating 3.8% as much of it.
Posted by Strunk & White on October 5, 2011 at 4:07 PM · Report
3
Graham: no apostraphe belongs in the headline. But one does belong in the first sentence.
Posted by Strunk & White on October 5, 2011 at 4:08 PM · Report
4
Apostrophe, Graham.
Posted by ujfoyt on October 5, 2011 at 4:09 PM · Report
5
Spelling and mechanics aren't your strong points, eh Graham?
Posted by GLV on October 5, 2011 at 7:45 PM · Report
6
The figures Strunk & White cites are actually only the recovered pounds per person. So, recycling is way down for Wheeler County. One needs to look at the disposal per capita figures plus the total generation per captia amounts to see the whole picture. Wheeler county generates far less than Metro, but they don't recovery nearly as much per person.
Posted by mlpdyer on October 6, 2011 at 8:48 AM · Report
7
According to the detailed report, Wheeler County actually generates 646 pounds per person. The figures cited by Strunk & White are the recovered pounds per capita. So, Wheeler County does generate less person, but recycles far less than the Metro area.
Posted by mlpdyer on October 6, 2011 at 8:50 AM · Report

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