DEQ: Oregonians recycling more, wasting less

Oregon continues to see sizable energy savings and greenhouse gas reductions, thanks to efforts in the state to recover materials for recycling, composting and burning for energy, the state Department of Environmental Quality said Wednesday.

At the same time, per-capita waste generation in Oregon is 17.6 percent below 1992 levels, the agency said.

These findings and numerous other facts about the state’s waste generation and recovery of materials are in the 2012 Oregon Material Recovery and Waste Generation Rates Report , on DEQ’s Solid Waste and Materials Management web page (scroll down to Waste Recovery and Composting), at www.deq.state.or.us/lq/sw/ .

The report lists material recovery rates for 35 wastesheds, which consist of 33 counties, one municipality (Milton-Freewater) and the Portland metro area (Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties).

DEQ has tracked Oregon’s waste generation and recovery of materials annually since 1992. In recent years it has also computed energy savings and greenhouse gas reductions from materials recovered for recycling, composting and energy recovery.

Energy savings in 2012 were the equivalent of 272 million gallons of gasoline, or roughly 3.3 percent of total energy used by all sectors of Oregon’s economy in 2012.

Greenhouse gas reductions in 2012 from recycling, composting and energy recovery totaled approximately 3.1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents – equal to tailpipe emissions from 690,000 passenger vehicles, or roughly 4.6 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions statewide.

Overall, Oregon recovered 2.4 million tons of materials for recycling, composting and energy production, achieving a 53.4 percent recovery rate. That rate is the highest in the state’s 21-year history of tracking the numbers, and up from 2011’s 52.3 percent.

Both percentage figures include credits that counties and municipalities can claim for operating state-certified waste prevention, reuse and residential composting programs. For the third year, Oregon met its 50 percent recovery goal set by the state Legislature several years ago.

Most of the increase in the state’s rate was due to increased recovery of organic materials (including yard debris and food waste). Recovery of electronics, paint, paper and plastic also increased, while glass and metals recovery decreased.
Snapshots of key data from the report:

• Makeup of materials recovered in 2012. Major categories of materials recovered and their percentage by weight of all materials recovered in 2012: metals (23 percent), yard debris (20 percent), wood waste (15 percent), cardboard (15 percent), other paper (12 percent), glass (5 percent), plastics (2 percent), food waste (2 percent), electronics (1 percent), other (5 percent). Of material recovered, 66 percent was recycled, 20 percent composted, and 15 percent burned for energy recovery.

• Highlights from individual wastesheds. Fifteen of the 35 wastesheds in Oregon increased their recovery rates in 2012, while 27 remained above 2009 recovery rate goals previously set by the state. Portland’s metro region (Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties) led the way with a 62.2 percent recovery rate, including 6 percent of recovery credits for operating state-certified programs in waste prevention, reuse and residential composting. Lane County reported a 61.2 percent total recovery rate, followed by Marion County with 60.1 percent.

For a complete list of wasteshed recovery rates around the state, go to Table 1 (or DEQ’s website, at: www.deq.state.or.us/lq/sw/recovery/rates.htm)

• Disposal of waste. A total of 2.42 million tons of municipal post-consumer waste was disposed in Oregon in 2012, down 0.6 percent from 2011. (Municipal post-consumer waste consists of residential and business material recycled, composted and burned for energy recovery, and disposed materials. It excludes industrial materials.) Per-capita disposal decreased 1.3 percent in 2012 to 1,248 pounds per person. This is the lowest per-capita disposal rate in the survey’s 21 years.

• Waste generation. Both total and per-capita waste generation increased slightly in 2012 over 2011, by 1.7 and one percent, respectively, narrowly missing the state goals of no increase in either measure. Per-capita waste generation is still about 20 percent lower than it was at its peak in 2006.

DEQ uses data from the annual Material Recovery and Waste Generation Report to track recycling rates of different materials, chart the progress and effectiveness of different types of county and city recycling programs across the state, and help determine where additional efforts might best be made to increase the recovery of materials for high-valued uses.

DEQ also uses the data to determine if the state is meeting its goals for material recovery and limits on waste generation.