Wednesday, January 3, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
RECYCLING: Dumping
and contamination are
a problem at center
Continued from page 1
engage in “wishful recy-
cling” — putting inappropri-
ate materials in bins wish-
ing or hoping that it will get
recycled.
The biggest direct impact
on city staff is dealing with
illegal dumping.
“What’s killing us is the
hazardous waste,” said Wanda
Braughton, maintenance
supervisor with the City
Public Works Department.
People are leaving anti-
freeze and a lot of paint at
the site — where it doesn’t
belong. That means a work
crew has to gather it up, load
it into a trailer and haul it off
to Deschutes County disposal
sites.
“We actually have to take
it to the right facilities, and
we’re not budgeted for that,”
Braughton said.
Dealing with hazardous
waste dumping also takes
personnel away from other
tasks.
“We’re a very small crew,”
Braughton noted.
Ace Hardware in Sisters
will take paint and stain only.
Knott Landfill in Bend will
receive hazardous materials.
Braughton noted that the
Sisters center will take used
motor oil — but that service
is designed for individual citi-
zens, not for commercial use.
“Businesses need to recy-
cle their own oil,” she said.
Braughton thinks that the
public doesn’t understand
that the facility is a recycling
center only.
“It’s not a transfer site,”
she said. “It’s incredible, the
household garbage that’s left
there.”
Braughton said she’s been
confronted with trashcans
completely full of some-
body’s cat litter — which has
to be scooped out by hand.
The recycle center is
unmanned and open 24/7,
which makes catching illegal
dumpers a challenge. That
will be changing, though.
Braughton noted that the
facility’s security cameras
are now properly operational,
and the City will monitor ille-
gal dumping and refer inci-
dents to the sheriff’s office
for investigation.
The center has operated
on more restricted hours
before, but that didn’t solve
the problem of illegal dump-
ing. People just dumped their
recycling — and garbage —
at the locked gate, leaving it
for public works to deal with.
Recycling market roiled
by Cpina action
Problems with illegal
dumping and improper recy-
cling are not the only ones
plaguing the recycling indus-
try, which has been roiled by
a decision by China to stop
accepting post-consumer
plastics and unsorted paper.
In a memo sent to the
City of Sisters, High County
Disposal noted that “Until
recently, China has been
the world’s largest importer
of recycled paper and plas-
tic. This announcement has
severely disrupted recycling
markets worldwide with
major impact in Oregon.”
NPR reports that “The
U.S. exports about one-
third of its recycling, and
nearly half goes to China.
For decades, China has used
recyclables from around the
world to supply its manu-
facturing boom. But this
summer it declared that this
‘foreign waste’ includes too
many other nonrecyclable
materials that are ‘dirty,’
even ‘hazardous.’ In a fil-
ing with the World Trade
Organization the coun-
try listed 24 kinds of solid
wastes it would ban ‘to pro-
tect China’s environmen-
tal interests and people’s
health.’”
The local impact remains
unclear.
“The garbage and recy-
cling haulers, recycled mate-
rial processors, local govern-
ment and DEQ are preparing
for different possibilities
and developing strategies to
maintain recycling collec-
tion and processing where
possible,” HCD reported.
Residents are encouraged
to continue recycling, but to
stop “wishful recycling” —
putting an item into a recy-
cling container that doesn’t
belong, assuming it will be
recycled (see related story,
page 1).
“Any items that are dirty
or not on the list of materi-
als accepted for recycling in
your local market leads to
contamination,” HCD states.
“A good mantra to follow is,
when in doubt, find out.”
Customers can visit
www.highcountrydisposal.
com and download a recy-
cling guide that lists what
items are acceptable in your
blue commingle recycling
cart. Recyclers are encour-
aged to follow the recycling
guide and to remember to
keep all types of plastic
bags and film out of recy-
cling carts. (See “Recycling
Preparation Guide” on page
18.)
19
PHOTO BY JIM CORNELIUS
Sisters Recycling Center is a vital service in town — but it gets abused by dumpers.
“It’s a small percentage,”
Braughton said of the dump-
ers. “And when you have a
facility like that, you have
to expect it. You do. Doesn’t
make it right.”
Braughton also cited prob-
lems with people failing to
break their cardboard boxes
down, which uses up the
allotted bin space quickly.
When the bins get full, peo-
ple then just dump their card-
board in the aisles.
“We spend so much time
breaking down cardboard
boxes and sorting out the
waxed that’s not acceptable,”
she said. “I think we’ve got a
lot of room for cardboard —
if it’s broken down.”
A few extra minutes, a
little extra effort and a little
more awareness of what can
and can’t be recycled will go
a long way toward reducing
the burden on public works
staff and making the recy-
cling center more effective.
Sisters Public Works
Director Paul Bertagna
KNEE
PAIN?
Quick and
affordable relief.
Auto accidents,
workman’s comp.
accepted.
Three Sisters Chiropractic
& Pain Management
Dr. Inice Gough, DC, CCT, CCST
541.549.3583
acknowledged that there will
always be some problems —
but he’s hopeful that raising
awareness will cut back on
inappropriate recycling and
dumping at the site.
“We’re not going to be
able to curtail the bad behav-
ior,” he said. “But maybe we
can guide people who want to
do the right thing.”
PHOTO PROVIDED
Public Works crews have to haul away loads of paint.