Welcome to Josephine County Master Recyclers 2010

Britta Beckstead, Coordinator

When you sit down, please take a few

minutes to fill out the “Waste Quiz” sitting on the desk. Don’t worry –

these will not be graded!

IntroductionsFind a partner that you don’t know

Introduce yourselves to each another

Provide the following information for your partner

Your name

What you do or something you like to do

Why you are taking the class

Introduce your partner to the group

Syllabus and ExpectationsReadings due the next classAttendance is required at all lecture

sessions and field trips unless you have a VERY important reason

30 service hours over 9 months (Graduation and title of “Master Recycler” awarded in December)

What is waste?

And you thought this was a class about recycling…Most recycling will eventually end up as waste, even though it does help with reducing waste. More on this point in a later class.

Waste is…1. The failure to use something wisely,

properly, fully, or to good effect.

2. Something we have purchased and reduced to a value of zero or less.

3. Actions that don’t create or add value.

4. A sign of inefficiency.

5. Resources that can no longer support life or our current standard of living.

Why should we care?

Waste is connected to almost every major environmental issue…

Climate Change

Water Pollution

Air Pollution

Habitat Loss

Ecosystem Disruption

Toxic substances

Resource DepletionAnd therefore many human issues.

In the U.S. we use…

60,000 plastic

bags every 5 seconds

200 billion plastic

bottles in a year

77 billion tons of packaging waste per

year

Where does it all go?

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

•Roughly the size of Texas

•The concentration of plastics is 7 times the concentration of phytoplankton

Exported to developing countriesA Chinese child sits on e-waste, containing harmful chemicals such as mercury and lead, likely exported from the United States.

10 acres cells fill up quickly and cost millions of dollars to construct and operate. We won’t have this much open space forever.

Buried in a landfill

Or it can end up in your own backyard…Waste and your present health and well-being

right here in Josephine County

Brad Carlson Environmental Public Health Specialist from the

Josephine County Department of Environmental Health

Member of the Solid Waste Agency

How else do we deal with waste here in Josephine County?What is the Solid Waste Agency?What projects are going on currently and for

the next year?

Terry HaugenPublic Works Director from the City of Grants

PassMember of the Solid Waste Agency

OR Department of Environmental Quality

Local governments (Josephine County, the City of Grants Pass,

and the Solid Waste Agency)

Franchised Waste HaulersAllied Waste Services

(Picks up on one side of the river)

Southern Oregon Sanitation (Picks up on the

other side of the river)

Reports to DEQ on progress towards recovery rate goal, use Environmental Program Fee to pay for programs to help meet that goal

Pay franchise fees to local governments, create educational and promotional materials to help with progress towards recovery rate goal

Sets recovery rate goal (total recovered/total generated) for wasteshed and state