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DECEMBER 2-3, 2017
142nd Year, No. 33
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Ignoring rules can cause recyclables to end up in landfi lls
Contributed photo by Jesus Ceja
Alfonzo Alva Reyes (left) of Mil-
ton-Freewater has a beer with his
friend Jesus Ceja during a visit to a
brewery at Wallowa Lake. The pals
traveled, fi shed and traveled together
in the Blue Mountains.
Genuine
nature marks
life of Alfonzo
Alva Reyes
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
The Dalles and Hood River, are
sending recyclable plastic and
paper from curbside pick-ups
directly to the landfi ll. The
Department of Environmental
Quality has issued permission to
do so, in the form of a disposal
concurrence, to 12 transfer
stations in Oregon who say
they have exhausted their other
options.
Sanitary Disposal is in a better
position. Most of the recyclable
materials it takes in — including
newspaper,
glass,
wood,
cardboard, electronics, tin and
aluminum — are sent to domestic
buyers, and the company has
enough room to store bales of
plastic for the foreseeable future.
But Sanitary Disposal President
Mike Jewett said other transfer
stations that were previously
sending materials to China are
now trying to fi nd a domestic
home for them, causing a glut in
the market that Jewett hopes to
Alfonzo Alva Reyes of Milton-Free-
water loved to dance. Friends who
considered him family recalled when
music would start at a birthday party, a
fi esta, or on any Friday night, Alfonzo
would begin moving to the beat.
Alfonzo was also an alcoholic. When
he went missing in early November,
his friends feared he was spiraling into
ill-health and danger.
Pendleton locals
walking their dogs “I just loved
found
Alfonzo’s
the guy,
body the morning
of Nov. 16 near the
he had a
fence toward the east
end of Pendleton
big heart.
Grain
Growers’
I am so
McKennon Station.
Pendleton
police
sad I can’t
reported
coroner
think.”
results
showed
Alfonzo died from
advanced
liver — Jesus Ceja,
disease and expo- friend of Alfonzo
sure to the elements.
He was 58.
His close friend Jesus Ceja of
Milton-Freewater said Alfonzo was so
much more than how he died.
“I just loved the guy, he had a big
heart,” Ceja said. “I am so sad I can’t
think.”
Ceja, 46, said he grew up in the
Milton-Freewater labor camps and was
a teen playing basketball when he met
Alfonzo. The older man was gracious and
through the years they became friends.
They traveled together, fi shed and hunted
mushrooms in the Blue Mountains. Ceja
said his friend made others feel special.
Around six years ago, Alfonzo was
staying at a place with “a bunch of
See RECYCLE/10A
See ALFONZO/10A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Employee James Bailey sorts cardboard by hand Thursday at the Sanitary Disposal Inc. baling facility outside of Hermiston.
Just one piece of non-recyclable material, like Styrofoam packaging, can foul up a load of cardboard recycling and cause it to
be rejected by potential recycling companies.
Recycling rejects
As China shuts down imports from U.S., local companies change procedures
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
A chain reaction caused by
Americans’ sloppy recycling
habits has thrown the recycling
market into disarray, and compa-
nies are encouraging everyone to
think twice about what they’re
tossing into collection bins.
“A little contamination turns a
recyclable into waste,” said Bill
Kik, maintenance supervisor at
Sanitary Disposal outside Herm-
iston.
Much of the western United
States’ paper and plastic has been
shipped to China for recycling
in the past. But in July, China
announced it would cease
importing 24 types of solid waste,
including several categories of
paper and plastic, by the end of
the year and require a less than
0.5 percent contamination rate
for the rest. Chinese offi cials
complained U.S. companies were
sending loads that were up to 20
percent contaminants, ranging
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A plastic jug and a light bulb sit in a pile of clear glass at
Sanitary Disposal Inc. on Thursday in Hermiston. Recyclables
contaminated with foreign materials can be rejected by recy-
cling companies cause those material to end up in landfi lls.
from food and Styrofoam to
more hazardous waste like used
syringes.
Many Chinese recyclers have
already stopped taking shipments,
leaving U.S. waste collectors
scrambling. Milton-Freewater’s
recycling contractor Horizon
Project recently announced it
was no longer taking any type
of plastic for recycling and some
sites, such as transfer stations in
PENDLETON
A brain is a terrible thing to waste
Students get hands-on
lesson in neuroscience
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Sixth-grader Lilly Miller reaches into a jar to touch a preserved human
brain on Friday at Sunridge Middle School in Pendleton.
What does it feel like to touch
billions of neurons?
Some students got a chance to
fi nd out as they examined a human
brain up close and personal during
science classes Friday at Sunridge
Middle School.
Beforehand, students learned
some factoids about the powerful
computer located inside their skulls.
Visiting Blue Mountain Community
College science instructor Kristen
Oja described the three-pound
human brain as “the most complex
object in the known universe, faster
than any super-computer.”
Yet, the brain is a fragile organ
with the consistency of tofu protected
only by the lake of fl uid in which it
fl oats. Oja passed around a skull, a
model of a brain and a Tupperware
container fi lled with tofu, so students
could fully realize the delicate and
squishy nature of the organ fl oating
inside their heads. The fl uid, Oja said,
keeps the brain from being crushed
under its own weight.
The students had learned some
brain vocabulary before Oja’s visit,
so when she asked the names of
the folds and cracks of the brain
(gyri and sulci), they answered with
the rapidity and force of a Serena
Williams backhand. Oja looked
impressed.
See BRAIN/10A