Residents of Deschutes County now have options beyond reuse or landfills when it comes to items ranging from plastic bags to shredded paper.
Deschutes County Solid Waste has expanded its recycling program to include items it calls “hard-to-recycle” via drop-off at certain locations in the county.
Items that are now recyclable if dropped off are:
- Plastic bags
- Plastic lids from items like yogurt and sour cream tubs
- Shredded paper in paper bags
- Aluminum foil & trays
- Rigid product buckets and pails from items like cat litter or laundry detergent
- Rigid plastic package handles such as six-pack carriers
"Those couldn’t go in [curbside recycling bins] most times because after being sorted, they would slip through with the papers and go to the mills and become contaminants,” said Susan Baker, waste diversion manager for Deschutes Solid Waste. “But collected and sourced separately, they can send them direct to market, and then they have that successful recyclability."
Products fitting into the above-listed categories can be dropped off at Negus Transfer Station east of Redmond, Southwest Transfer Station southeast of Three Rivers, Northwest Transfer Station southeast of Sisters, and the Knott Landfill southeast of Bend.
The expansion is part of Oregon’s Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act, which began changing how recycling works in the state in July. Dropped-off recyclables will not have to go to a larger sorting facility like curbside recyclables. It will instead go straight to companies who will process it for recycling.
Baker said Deschutes County hopes to add more items to its list of items accepted for recycling in the future as the program grows.
