Portland Community Collection Events are organized to offer a wide range of Portland residents, including seniors and people with disabilities, with proper disposal of household bulky waste and prioritize and promote both recycling and reuse. Master Recyclers also help at recycling collection events for those hard to recycle items like computers, shredded paper and non-curbside plastics throughout the region. You can act as a greeter, train other volunteers or help plan the event for your payback hours at these community events.
Enjoy mellow days at your local farmer’s market. Consider staffing a booth once or for several dates at your favorite market as a way to stretch out your Earth Day commitment.
Here are a few markets where booths are already planned for the season. They would love to have you join them. Contact them to find out what dates they have scheduled:
Don’t see your favorite market listed? Here are a few easy steps to set up your own booth.
Antique glass doorknobs, wood framing from long-gone old growth forests, basket weave bathroom tiles, and inlaid hardwood floors are all beloved touches in old homes. Instead of stripping our forests and land for natural resources to decorate and build our new homes, we can harvest local reuse places like the ReBuilding Center, Restore and Salvage Works. They are already wonderful places to find hidden treasures, but they will soon be teaming with history!
Most of the sorting of waste doesn’t happen out on the curb. It happens in our kitchens, bedrooms, family rooms, home offices and restrooms. Strategies that create easy ways to separate waste right where it is generated in the house will increase the chance that things get to the right cart and ultimately to their correct destination.
The Power of Repair
Do you have a favorite repair shop? You know, somewhere you go because you actually trust them with your stuff? I do! Well, I have several. But, hands down, my favorite is Mike at OMG?!? Computer repair. He has kept my laptop going with minor repairs, saves and a few upgrades. When my computer finally displayed the dreaded “blue screen of death”, he gave me recommendations on a computer that would suit my needs and be easy for him to keep repairing long into the future.
There is a growing “repair movement” afoot that is empowering people to make their stuff last longer.
It isn’t easy to make safe and healthy choices with plastic. The numbers included on the labeling only identifies the main resin in a package for food. There may be any amount of unnamed chemicals added to resins to make plastic products. Furthermore, there is a lot that is not known or fully tested about each resin.
Serving the Portland metro region in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties.
