October 2023 Newsletter
Marion Resourcer Class 2 Field trip
Check out the second Cohort of Marion Resourcers in training! The group got to check out the material recovery facility at Garten Services in Salem in September. Pictured behind the group are bales of sorted, mixed paper headed for recycling end markets. The picture below shows tour guide and CFO, Will Posegate, in front of a mountain of pre-sort recyclables mixed with garbage that arrived on the tipping floor.
Cohort 2 graduates October 12th! Stay tuned for the November newsletter to learn more about your fellow volunteers, their interests, and how to collaborate on projects with them!
Metro Releases Study to Increase Reuse and Repair of Home Goods
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans threw out over 24 million pounds of furniture and home furnishings in 2018, six times the amount measured in 1960.
In response, Metro’s 2030 Regional Waste Plan calls on local governments to improve bulky waste services (think couches, furniture, cumbersome objects). Specific improvements include increasing the reuse, repair and donation of consumer products through partnerships with waste reduction organizations and investments in neighborhood scale reuse and repair services and infrastructure.
The plan also calls for regularly occurring bulky waste collection services with an emphasis on serving people who live in apartments and lower income households.
To achieve these goals, Metro has partnered with local governments, businesses, and nonprofits that promote reuse and reclamation – also known as the circular economy – to understand the scope and scale of the problem, and to propose possible solutions.
While this study highlights the Metro region (Clackamas, Washington and Multnomah counties), Marion County also supports the need to invest in infrastructure that prioritizes reuse and repair of home goods. Home goods not only represent an impactful material to divert from landfill from an environmental perspective, but also as a social good due to the accessible nature of second hand, less expensive products.
View the link to the article and larger study here.
City of Aurora hosts Ecycles Collection Event with Republic Services
Republic Services teamed up with the City of Aurora to offer a free day long ecycles collection event at Aurora City Hall September 28th. The event was very successful with 8,400 pounds of ewaste collected for recycling from city and county residents dropping off their electronic waste. Republic Services representative Travis Comfort also tabled on-site to offer hands on education for residents on general garbage and recycling topics.
While an ecycles collection event could be a great option for a city or community organization, keep in mind Marion County offers free ecycles recycling drop off at either the Salem Keizer Recycling and Transfers station (Salem) or North Marion Recycling and Transfer Station (Woodburn) year round.
Members of the public can take up to seven or fewer computers (desktops, laptops and tablets), monitors, TVs and printers at a time to participating Oregon E-Cycles collection sites for free recycling. Computer peripherals (keyboards and mice) are also accepted free of charge. Other types of electronics are currently not included in this program.
If you would like to hold an ecycles event for your community, reach out to the waste reduction team to think about planning and advertising a collection day!
Volunteer Opportunities
Halloween Costume Swap October 14th with Salem Cloth Project
PAYBACK HOURS: 3 or TBD
Volunteers Needed!
Did you know that in the US 32 billion pounds of textiles and clothing is thrown away every year?! An estimated 12 million pounds of that are Halloween costumes. Help save resources, reduce waste & save money by joining our costume swap!
The Halloween Costume Swap will be on October 14th from 10am - 1pm at Englewood Elementary School. The event will be held at the main entrance of the school near the corner of 19th & Nebraska Street.
In addition to free costumes, we will also have face painting, clothes mending lessons and a coffee cart! You will not want to miss out on this fantastic community event.
If you're looking to participate in a lively, feel-good, community event, this is place to be! We can use volunteers for the following roles:
Picking up costumes from collection sites
Sorting & tagging costumes
Passing out event posters to businesses and organizations
Day of event set up
Day of event tear down
Delivering left over costumes to other organizations
Email Kaileigh at info@salemclothproject.org if you're interested in volunteering.
Toy Swap with City of Keizer December 10th
PAYBACK HOURS: 4-5 hours (depends on set-up and clean-up)
The City of Keizer is hosting this FREE Toy Swap to spread some joy and waste reduction spirit to the Marion County community this holiday season! Last year (2022), 140 people attended and received 880 gently used toys representing a huge impact for the community.
We are in need of Marion Resourcer volunteers to help with toy swap operations like organizing toys at intake, supporting families find toys, feeding other volunteers, and helping with our reused wrapping station!
From November 1st to December 2nd bring any gently used, clean toys or games to any of the following locations:
· Keizer City Hall (930 Chemawa Rd. NE Keizer, OR) Hours: Monday -Friday 8:00am – 5:00pm
· Salem Public Library (585 Liberty St. SE Salem, OR) Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 10:00am-7:00pm,
Friday and Saturday 10:00am-5:00pm, Sunday 1:00pm-5:00pm
Then on Sunday, December 10th, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., attend the Toy Swap at Keizer City Hall where you can shop for free to find toys, games and gadgets.
Please take only what you need and help keep this a Waste Less Event.
We will not accept the following:
· Dirty, broken, ripped, chipped, ragged, chewed, marked items
· Baby gear (car seats, strollers, cribs, play yards)
· Anything with missing parts or in disrepair
· Items with possible cutting, choking, or lead hazards
· No clothing will be accepted
· Oversized items may be accepted at our discretion
According to Medium, approximately 80 percent of all toys end up somewhere on a trash heap. There are many reasons why toys get thrown away, but most of them center on the fact that parents don’t know what else to do once their children have outgrown them.
Swaps are a great way to share materials and connect with the community. Swaps enable us to avoid throwing usable items away and helps showcase how fun reuse can be.
To learn more about this event and volunteer, contact Jenny Ammon at City of Keizer, 503-865-3447 or email ammonj@keizer.org
Request for educational articles from Marion Resourcers!
PAYBACK HOURS: 1+ depending on interest
Want to earn payback hours by writing mini-articles around sustainability issues you’re passionate about?
I'm looking for Marion Resourcers to write short or medium articles (100 words or more) on sustainability subjects related to materials and waste. From the giant plastic oceangyres of the Pacific to examples of community reuse in action here or abroad, all topics that center materials and the environment are fair game. These articles would then be featured in the monthly newsletter.
Please email me with interest or article ideas, I would love to hear from you! Any time spent preparing to write the article + writing the article count as payback hours. I can't wait to centervolunteer voices and interests through this process.
Interested in Translating Articles from English to Spanish?
Payback hours: 1+ Depending on time and interest
A goal of the volunteer program moving forward is to offer more language-specific resources on sustainability in materials to Spanish-speaking communities. Marion County demographic data shows that 25% of residents in the County identify as Hispanic/Latino with a large proportion of monolingual and bilingual Spanish speakers represented. If you have a background in Spanish translation, are a native and/or non-native Spanish speaker and want to create more resources with these communities in mind, please send me an email.
