Beyond Waste

Last week, Fred Stemmler, General Manager of Recology, spoke on the topic "Beyond Waste" at the McMinnville City Club.  Recology, an employee-owned company headquartered in California, handles garbage and recycling pick-up in McMinnville and west Yamhill County.  Leonard Rydell was present at the meeting and gives us this report:

I have not seen such enthusiasm for recycling since the late 1970's and early 1980's.  That's when a group of women started Yamhill Valley Recyclers, a recycling program in Yamhill County.  The YVR opened a recycling drop-off center at the old Hubbard Shoe Grease building and obtained a tipping fee for garbage deposited at the then new Riverbend Landfill.

Recology has far exceeded the efforts of the Yamhill Valley Recyclers.  At its McMinnville facility, Recology recycles not only the typical metal, paper, cardboard and glass, but also organic compost, clothing, shoes, hardback books, CDs, motor oil, window glass and electronics on a daily basis.  Recology's ultimate goal is "Zero Waste," and they have even ordered a machine that will compress Styrofoam into compacted blocks that can be reused to make new Styrofoam.

Although I live in Newberg, I find myself taking most of my non-donatable recyclables to Recology, located at 2200 NE Orchard Avenue in McMinnville, because the recycling center located at the Newberg transfer station has offered reduced services since it was acquired by Waste Management.  I raised the issue with the Newberg City Council, and one council member responded that, "They do more than we ask" -- meaning, apparently, that we shouldn't ask for anything.

This view to expect less is apparently shared by at least one Yamhill County Commissioner.  At the January 2014 meeting where Commissioners voted to rezone Riverbend Landfill so it can expand onto good farmland next door, Commissioner Kathy George stated that she wanted to keep garbage bills low for poor people.  Apparently, she does not realize that one can almost eliminate their garbage bill by recycling as I have done since moving into my new house in 1977.  Riverbend Landfill accepts a small amount of garbage for free when predominately recyclables are dropped off.

I encourage all Yamhill County Residents and the Newberg City Council to stop by Recology in McMinnville to see what they recycle and learn that you don't need to pay to keep having your cast-offs pile up on the mountain of trash  in the flood plain of the South Yamhill River.

-- Leonard A. Rydell