<B>Oregon Recovery Rate Declines</B>

A report released this week by the state of Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality finds that the Oregon recycling rate dipped slightly. The reasons for the decline, to 36.8 percent, is due primarily to the growth in population of the state.

The decline was the first time the recovery rate has dropped since the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality began tabulating the figures early last decade.

Figures released by the DEQ indicate Oregonians:

"The fundamental reason for this decline is that the rate at which Oregonians are creating waste is increasing faster than the rate at which we are recycling," says Chris Taylor, manager of DEQ’s Solid Waste program."

The figures come from DEQ’s eighth annual survey of garbage haulers and private recycling companies. The recovery rates include materials collected for recycling or composting, as well as some materials burned for energy recovery. Major types of materials recovered include paper, organics (such as food waste, wood waste and yard debris), metals, plastics, glass, used tires, and used motor oil.

The report finds that residents of the state last year generated 28 percent more waste than in 1992. Also, last year residents of Oregon disposed of 93,000 more tons of waste than they did the previous year.

A total of 1.626 million tons of recyclables were recovered last year. Of the materials recovered, organics (food and wood waste, plus yard debris) made up 39.5 percent, followed by paper (39.2 percent), metals (10.6 percent), glass (5.1 percent), and plastics (1.2 percent). Other assorted waste recovered (including such items as carpets, tires, paint, and motor oil) totaled 4.4 percent.