How Much Trash Do Oregonians Throw Away? What a New Report Says

SEATTLE (Waste Advantage): Oregonians threw away a record amount of garbage in 2022, the most recent annual report from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality shows. The state’s households and businesses landfilled or incinerated a total of 3.7 million tons of waste in 2022, or an average of 1,724 pounds per person, the report found.

That’s technically 8.8% less than the previous year. But the 2021 total was artificially boosted by disposal of nearly 400,000 tons of debris from large wildfires that destroyed more than 6,000 structures in late 2020 and 2021. Without the fires, the state’s total amount disposed would have been 27,368 tons higher in 2022 than in 2021.

Oregon’s recycling rate, meanwhile, is not improving, and is far below the goal set by the Oregon Legislature. The state’s 2022 recovery rate was 39.4%, an increase of nearly 2 percentage points from the previous year. Without wildfire debris, however, the 2021 recycling rate would have been 40%, meaning the 2022 rate actually dropped. The state’s recycling rate reached a record high of 49.7 in 2012, but even that is well below the state’s goal of 52%. That goal is set to increase to 55% in 2025.

Courtesy: www.wasteadvantagemag.com