Last October, Portlanders made a environmental and controversial change in the way they handle their garbage by (begrudgingly) welcoming compost into their curbside pick-up program. Six months later, people are still getting used to it. So, we’re all wondering: Have those little stinky tan buckets made a difference? According to city data released yesterday by compost king (and mayor) Sam Adams, yes.
Since the service began, garbage haulers have reported a 44 percent decrease in the amount of residential garbage collected curbside. Wow! Adams say that means we diverted around 1,800 truckloads of garbage from landfills. And the city’s estimate on the amount of compost Portland created in the first year? 89,000 tons.
It looks like some bitter locals are trying to sabotage the cutback in garbage pick-up, though, by sneakily dumping their garbage in their recycling bin. Apparently the city has notified the specific perpetrators of their crime and given them a warning. Awkward.
“Portland has always had one of the best recycling rates in the country and since the introduction of our new curbside collection plan we’ve only gotten better,” said Adams in yesterday’s release. Here’s to decomposing food! Keep it up, Portland.
PROOFREAD.
According to this, Metro contractors have collected about 40,000 tons or organics since the program started. Did the city invent some magical process to double the original mass of organics into compost? Does Metro only collect about half of Portland’s disposables? Something seems off. http://news.oregonmetro.gov/1/post.cfm/som….
I can’t wait for the sale of all that compost to offset my waste disposal bills! Oh, wait, it won’t because its compost owned by private companies and they get the profit.
Shipping compost hundreds of miles by truck is… ridonculous. (See metro story linked in #2.)
The look of the cans I see on the curbs every two weeks doesn’t tell the story that people are generating less garbage, since they are usually packed to the point were the lids are unable to be used.
It couldn’t be that they are tweaking the numbers to reflect the narrative that makes them look successful. Sam would never do that.
First off, I wouldn’t trust those numbers any farther than I can throw a loaded trash can.
People have been coming through my neighborhood offering to pick up trash overflow for a small fee. I’ve seen numerous neighbors take up on the offer. Where that trash actually ends up is anyone’s guess, but I would imagine it’s not going to the dump …
@CHUCK&MONKEY: WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE DOING THAT THEY’RE GENERATING SUCH VAST AMOUNTS OF NON-RECYCLABLE, NON-COMPOSTABLE WASTE? I AM GENUINELY CURIOUS.
I don’t know Graham. Twice a month pick up works fine for my wife and I, but I imagine that people with more than 2 kids or who have the elderly living with them create more non-recyclable trash than my household. I’m guessing if you happen to clean our an attic or a basement over the weekend, you probably end up with more non-recyclable material than you have can room to deal with. But again, that’s conjecture.
The only other problem I encounter is as such: when I mow my lawn or do some other kind of yardwork, I typically fill up my green bin in one day, which means I’m SOL for the rest of the week for compostables.
@ Chuck, we have a second can we use for overflow yard waste for those SOL weeks, so we just top off the green can the next week around from the overflow can.
I fucking love the change, though I still get confused on which weeks are trash weeks. Still, this is social engineering at it’s best. This forces every well-meaning person to think about ways of reducing what goes in their garbage cans, and so many things are recyclable/ compostable.
I would like to see a more elegant solution for the indoor temporary storage of compost – those little buckets do kinda suck.
@CC: THOSE LITTLE BUCKETS ARE AWFUL. WE STOPPED USING OURS WITHIN THE FIRST MONTH. WE WENT AND BOUGHT A TWO GALLON TRASHCAN WITH LID FROM IKEA AND A BOX OF COMPOSTABLE BAGS. MAKES THE WHOLE PROCESS QUITE A BIT EASIER.
@CHUCK: I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND THAT EVERYONE WILL HAVE OUTLIER WEEKS WHERE THEY GENERATE MORE TRASH… BUT PEOPLE WHO DO IT WEEK AFTER WEEK? WELL, THE CITY DOES OFFER LARGER TRASH BINS IF YOU WANT TO PAY A LITTLE BIT EXTRA (IT’S LIKE FIVE BUCKS A MONTH FOR TWICE AS BIG A OF A BIN).
I don’t even bother with the little bucket. I just take everything straight to the green bin. That bucket sucks, and smells like death.
Overall, i love the program for my home, though I see how it could be a serious hardship for others (the stories of people trying to sneak diapers in with the compost being the most obvious example). I also question how much good is being done when the material has to be shipped twice as far, as some reports have indicated.
@ Chuck,
Notwithstanding our national pastime (second guessing the decisions/competency of strangers), this is one of those many examples were I just have to trust that other people are doing their jobs in formulating policy in a competent way, and not being complete morons.
I’m not as skeptical as I was at the beginning, but there should’ve at least been a phase-in period before garbage collection was cut to biweekly.
Are you sure about that Graham re: bigger bins? The bins most people in my hood have are the size of the green bin already.
in their defense..it makes more sense to throw away some of the processed foods in the garage rather than the compost bin.
somebody took trash out of our trash bin and placed it in the compost bin this last week. i had to clean it out. now, i dont know if that’s a subversive tactic or some asshole is being an asshole.
anybody else got this?
also, im curious who fills their trash cans every week. like, to the brim, and with what? can the merc do a story on these normal people who dont separate their trash correctly and just throw things out. like, a 2 month study would be pretty rad. also, you could crossover about trashy places to hang out, trashy beers, etc, coz its summer and the merc needs a trash issue.
@CHUCK: THE CITY HAS ALL MANNER OF DIFFERENT SIZED BINS AVAILABLE AT DIFFERENT RATES: http://www.portlandonline.com/bps/index.cf… I’D BET THAT MOST PEOPLE ARE UNAWARE OF THE AVAILABILITY OF THE BIGGER BINS (THE BIGGEST IS LIKE 500 GALLONS OR SOMETHING STUPID).
@MIQUELARON: EVERYTHING YOU JUST SAID IS BRILLIANT. I LIKE THE IDEA OF A TRASH ISSUE. STEVE, GET ON THIS.
@Commenty: The city will happily help out with garbage week by sending a weekly/biweekly reminder email: http://www.portlandonline.com/bps/index.cf…
Type address and then scroll down to sign up for emails.
And, I think you said it best:
“I fucking love the change, though I still get confused on which weeks are trash weeks. Still, this is social engineering at it’s best. This forces every well-meaning person to think about ways of reducing what goes in their garbage cans, and so many things are recyclable/ compostable.”
That is EXACTLY what el gobierno should be for – enticing their idiot citizenry to do what is right even when convention might lead them to do otherwise.
And, FWIW, I still put most of my compostables into the black missile silo/composter I got for $35 from Metro a while back ’cause I want to use the good dirt for my garden. Only thing that goes in Big Green is pizza boxes and “compostable cups” and other industrial-composter-only stuff, plus larger/nasty yard waste like blackberry bushes.
What about a Bin Ladin? Hey oh!
The “trash issue” would be great! It could be sort of like the water waster thing WW does that makes rich people feel like crap…. I like that!
I particularly would like “the trash issue” because I hear many Portlanders say exactly what Chuck said (“I like it for me, but…”) and then describe what is essentially my family. Here we are— we have three kids; one in diapers. The new system is not hard for us. I love the weekly yard debris. We don’t have too much trash. Who are these people who are complaining?
i will submit a recipe for the “trash issue” if it comes to that.
merc: you have my email address
I don’t know. Is this a thing? My BF handles all the garbage stuff.
@miguelaron They could ask me.. I avoid recycling as much as possible.
I’m not generating less garbage. I’ve actually stopped recycling all together in protest. Now I just burn what can be burned, and crush the cans and break the bottles so they take up less space in the trash can. Thanks portland.
I’m sure that 44% decrease is calculated by factoring in the extra week between pick ups.
If you aren’t picking up garbage every week, there will be a decrease.
This whole thing is ridiculous.
The Mayor’s office admitted that household compost only actually accounted for 33% (give or take) of overall garbage. Yet…they cut service in half.
We have diapers, we have pets, we have garbage. We already were the recycling pros in our neighborhood– waste not want not, but this new program is shite.
Sorry.
I hate it.
Every Waste Management rep I speak with also thinks it’s stupid.
Trucking the waste further costs more and has more of a carbon footprint.
I’m glad Sam Adams is on his way out. I can’t stand that man and his ego-feeding pet projects.