Field Trips

Seems I get on a roll of posting and then fall off. Today I am going to attempt to write about my two Master Recycler field trips. The first field trip was back in September to the Hillsboro Landfill, Metro Central and Eco Trust Building. The second field trip was last weekend we visited Free Geek, Oregon Community Warehouse, SCRAP and Rebuilding Center. Okay here I go.

Hillsboro Landfill
  I sort of have a history with this landfill sounds weird but its true. As a child I lived in the Meadows which was a neighborhood a few blocks away from the landfill. Strange to think my parents felt buying a house near a landfill was a good investment. I also attended elementary and high school in the same area. Another interesting thing putting schools near a landfill. I guess it was perfect since the schools were also near the sewage treatment center and a slew of dairy farms. You never new where the smell was coming from. But I digress. I always thought the Hillsboro Landfill took garbage, your run of the mill neighborhood garbage. Was I shock to discover that it only takes Construction and Demolition waste. Not smelly at all. The main attraction at the landfill is the Material Recovery Facility or MRF (recycling center) I believe it is the only LEED certified MRF in the nation (??) What is LEED certified? It stands for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) that was created by the U.S. Green Building Council as a rating system for green buildings. The MRF used green design from the floor, walls, ceiling all the way up to the lighting of the facility. Contractors or homeowners come and deposit their materials and the workers at the MRF go through it to divert as much recyclable goods as possible from the landfill. You can take toilets, cement, metal and wood to the Hillsboro landfill where they separate and crush up the material to be reused.

Metro Central at 6161 NW 61st Ave, Portland off of highway 30. 
This place is owned by Metro the recycling gurus of Portland. Have questions regrading recycling you can contact them at www.oregonmetro.gov. This is where people can take their hazardous waste to be safely disposed of. If you think you don't have hazardous waste laying around at your house your wrong. Paint, cleaning products, items made out of mercury, propane, pesticides, and compact fluorescent light bulbs are all toxic if they end up in our water systems or soil. Through out the year there are neighborhood drop off sites Metro puts on. Can you believe that they come to you and take your hazardous waste away. I took some old paint there last weekend. I literally drove up, popped my trunk and they collected the material and I was back on the road. And what did they do with my old paint? They actually create 15 different Metro colors out of used paint that you can buy for cheap directly from them or at select Miller paint stores. The paint is Green Seal Certified one of the highest levels of environmental integrity you can get. I have a brochure of the colors if anyone is interested or call 503-234-3000.
  
   Metro is also working towards composting possibilities in Oregon. There is already a Portland Compost program where a few restaurants and grocery stores in Portland participate in. They have their compostable goods collected and temporary dropped off at the transfer station. Where a large truck comes to collect it and take it up to Washington. It has been slow going finding a large enough location and agreeable neighbors to create an Oregon compost facility. There is a misconception that composting is smelly but it isn't true especially on a large scale with all the technology. Corey and I compost using the Metro Earth Machine (sales for $35 at Metro) and don't notice the smell and I have a sensitive nose. 

Eco Trust, Pearl District
Our last stop was at the Eco Trust building in Portland. This building houses the Portland office of Sustainability, a few restaurants and the Patagonia store. It too is a LEED certified building. It reuses a lot of old material and utilizes natural light. I think it is a very beautiful building. You can actually get married there too. 

I think this has been a long enough post so I will end it here. Look for the second installment of field trips on Friday.