Facility could bring food-waste collection to Portland


If Recology Inc.’s Nature’s Needs plant in North Plains passes a smell test this summer, it could open a new chapter of food recycling for Portland residents.

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If Recology Inc.’s Nature’s Needs plant in North Plains passes a smell test this summer, it could open a new chapter of food recycling for Portland residents.

When Recology took over the facility last fall, they became responsible for keeping the odor complaints down in the surrounding area, critical for the plant to get the go-ahead from county commissioners.

“I think we’ll see the regional system grow pretty quickly over the next couple of years,” says Matt Korot, waste reduction manager at Metro, the regional government that coordinates solid waste planning for the Portland area.

When Portland City Council adopted the Portland Recycles! Plan in 2008, it committed the city to a future where food waste is lumped into green yard-debris bins rolled out to residents’ curbs. When that becomes viable, the city expects to shift residents to home garbage pickups every other week, with weekly pickup of yard debris and food scraps.

But the lack of a food-waste composting plant close to Portland, as well as convenient transfer stations where haulers could drop off the waste, has held up the city’s plans, says Bruce Walker, solid waste and recycling program manager for the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.

Read more at The Sherwood Gazette.

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