Sustainability efforts in solid waste management in Oregon have centered on
recycling since the early 1990s, and much progress has been made. The amount
of solid waste recycled and recovered has increased in Oregon every year since
1992. Unfortunately, the amount of solid waste generated has also increased
each year over the same time period.
Even so, Oregon’s efforts to recycle solid waste material have to be considered
an important step toward sustainability. Now the Oregon Department of Environmental
Quality through its Waste Policy Leadership Group (WPLG) has devised a strategy
to move beyond waste recycling to a policy of waste prevention.
The WPLG was convened in late 1999 by DEQ to discuss the future directions of
solid waste management in Oregon. The work of that group spawned four legislative
concepts that have been met with varying degrees of interest by the state legislature
in 2001.
"The emphasis of the legislative proceedings was away from the typical
disposal view," said Mary Sue Gilliland, senior policy analyst, DEQ Waste
Management.
"In the past everything has been based on the approach that we have a limited
amount of disposal space and therefore we need to recycle as much as we can,"
Gilliland said. "What we’re saying now is that, with these big regional
mega- landfills like Columbia Ridge in eastern Oregon, we no longer have a shortage
of landfill space and therefore our emphasis can be directed toward other programs."
According to Gilliland, the WPLG recommendation "kicked DEQ up a notch"
by saying the agency should direct the majority of its efforts toward waste
prevention and product stewardship while reducing emphasis on recycling and
landfill issues.
"The WPLG did recommend certain waste generation goals for the state that
have been carried forward in the state legislature in House Bill 3744,"
said Gilliland. "This bill also contained waste prevention provisions,
but they were removed in committee."
The amended bill contained the two waste generation goals recommended by WPLG,
Gilliland noted. The first goal is to have zero growth in per-capita waste generation
by 2005, and the second goal is to have zero growth in total waste generation
statewide by 2009, she said.