The results are in, and you knocked it out of the park!
It takes a while for local results to trickle upstream, where they are crosschecked with other data before resulting in statewide or national results, so it should come as no surprise that we are just now getting our finalized recycling results from 2020 – some eighteen months later. But that doesn’t mean we should not be proud of the results:
From 2019 to 2020, the quantity of materials recycled in Tillamook County increased by nearly 4,000 tons, an increase of 37.6% in just one year!
During that same time the quantity of materials landfilled increased by about 1,200 tons, or just over 4%.
Granted, this was the year in which we shuttered our group activities and switched to a lot of online ordering, but it was also the year in which most restaurant orders were provided in take out containers, and everyone was working on a DIY project at home.
Nonetheless, Tillamook County’s recovery rate came in a 31.4%, which is good, but not yet great. According to Solid Waste Program Manager David McCall, “Anything under 60% means that we are throwing away a lot of materials that could be fairly easily recycled. Separating your metals, paper and plastic bottles from your trash means that you don’t have to pay to dispose of it, and you can cut your quantity of trash down by about two-thirds. And all of our transfer stations are open on the weekends, so that you can more easily access recycling opportunities wherever you live.”
For more information about recycling, contact the Tillamook County Solid Waste Department at 503-815-3975 or online at www.co.tillamook.or.us/solid-waste