Follow the Fesitvals

The season is upon us where we all start heading out with our friends and families to enjoy the great community that surrounds us. Douglas County is a beautiful place with a myriad of happenings throughout the spring and summer.

Fairs, events, festivals, and concerts abound; each one with its unique offerings and character. Each one having something in common with the next…..trash.

Event managers understand the importance of managing waste. Here in Douglas County we are both blessed and cursed with a “free” landfill. On one hand this opportunity makes it easy and cheap to dispose of waste. On the other hand, this obstacle makes it challenging to remember the importance of recycling.

Douglas County Public Works has secured by donation from Roseburg Disposal, a recycling trailer for use at special events. This trailer was debuted at the Yoncalla Hazardous Waste Collection Event this past weekend. Along with staff support and technical assistance, this trailer and dozens of collection bins are available for free reservation for your event.

This program has been successful at events such as Music on the Half Shell, the Douglas County Fair, and Riverbend Live. The addition of the trailer will make the collection of recyclables much easier and efficient. It will even save you money!

Politcal Landscape

Whew, the spring election cycle is over. This is one Douglas County resident who is glad to have not been running for office this year! Regardless of you position on issues or candidates, many of us are left with quite a few political signs in our possession. Since last Wednesday I have been receiving numerous calls regarding what to do with these remnants of the election.

The answer is very simple. Recycle them!

If at all possible, contact the campaign manager of your issue or candidate to see if they want them back. Reusing them is always better than recycling because less new material needs to go into the campaign process.

If the folks representing the issue or candidate do not want their signs back, simply take your sign off the post and take it to your nearest recycle depot. Each transfer station has a recycle depot and is ready to accept all your plastic waste. I am certain you will find plenty of uses for the wooden stake. I think the vampires will be staying clear of Douglas County for quite some time now.

Click on the red blinking light for the HHW Collection event flyer!

Household Hazardous Waste Event

Everyone has it. No one wants it in their garbage. What do you do with it?

First of all what is it? Almost every home contains hazardous products, or products that can harm human health or the environment if improperly handled. These are products used in cleaning, home improvements, automobile maintenance, lawn and garden care, hobbies, and a variety of other tasks.

Each year, thousands of people are injured by exposure or accident involving hazardous household waste or HHW. Because of the dangers they pose, these products require special awareness, handling, and disposal. In order to protect health and environment, every consumer should know how to properly use, store, and dispose of HHW.

The key is to avoid purchasing anything that may be difficult to dispose of. However when we have leftover toxics, try to find someone to use the remaining material. It is preferred to use the substance as it was intended rather than process it for disposal. If you still have materials left over, contain the materials for long term storage in air tight containers and identify the contents well.

Since Douglas County does not charge for general garbage disposal, there aren’t any funds available for the development of a HHW collection facility. This poses a problem since we cannot dispose of any liquids into the landfill as per state law. The primary disposal option is to deliver the toxics to the Eugene HHW collection site by appointment. You can do this by calling 541-682-4120 Monday-Friday.

The only other option is coming up this month on Saturday, May 31st from 10am to 2pm at Yoncalla High School. The City of Yoncalla has qualified for a grant to put on a special one day HHW collection event. There, a professional contractor will be accepting all sorts of HHW from paint to florescent light bulbs. You can bring aerosol cans, antifreeze, chemicals, batteries, fuels, pesticides, insecticides, thermometers, mercury, and sharps containers. Simply keep any products in their original containers if possible, do not mix any products, and keep them away from any passengers while transporting. Do not bring any explosives or radioactive waste.

This grant is made possible by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. The City of Yoncalla has partnered with DEQ, Douglas County Public Works, and North Douglas Fire & EMS.
For more information about this event contact Kathy at the City of Yoncalla at 541-849-2152

Special Events

This county represents community at its best. Douglas County supports its own through partnerships, relationships, out outreach. It is no different when it comes to recycling.

In the past couple of weeks, we have seen electronic roundups, tennis shoe collections, can and bottle drives, and most recently free paper shredding. Local banks bring in regional paper shredders for one day collections of their old files. Many then offer to their customers an opportunity to bring in some of their own private documents for destruction. These “Paper Shredding Days” are a wonderful chance to recycle in our community. By shredding, one can be 100% confident in the end of life destination of their secure documents.

Oregon Pacific Bank and Premier West have held events in the past couple weeks. Now, Cascade Community Credit Union in Roseburg is having a Paper Shredding Day this coming Saturday, May 10th from 10 am til 2pm at their branch located at 1123 W. Harvard Ave.

http://www.recyclepower.org/

Article seen as published in the North County News as part of a regular "Talkin' Trash" column.

Paper Recycling Event!

Coming up this coming Saturday May 10^th, from 10am to 2pm, Cascade Community Credit Union is offering FREE paper shredding! Please see the poster below. You should feel welcome to share this information with your friends and family. All the paper will be secure and recycled.