Philomath residents now have a free place to recycle plastic bags, bottle caps, aluminum foil and other materials that don’t belong in curbside bins.
A RecycleOn Center opened last month at The Arc, 111 N. 20th St. It is one of dozens of drop-off sites opening across the state under Oregon’s Recycling Modernization Act.
The program is run by Circular Action Alliance, a nonprofit funded by the companies that sell packaging in Oregon. Under the law, those companies must help pay for improvements to the state’s recycling system rather than leaving the cost to local governments and ratepayers alone.
“We are a nonprofit producer responsibility organization,” said Alex Bertolucci, Circular Action Alliance’s communications manager. “What that means is that the companies, the brands that make packaging, pay into us to ensure that they’re in compliance with the new Recycling Modernization Act.”
The organization uses that money to make recycling “more accessible, more transparent and that folks have more confidence in how they recycle, so that they’re recycling the right stuff,” Bertolucci said.
The Philomath site accepts:
- Plastic bags and stretchy plastics
- Plastic lids and caps, such as those from yogurt and salsa containers
- Rigid plastic package handles, such as the hard six-pack carriers that cans snap into
- Plastic buckets and pails, lids included
- Aluminum foil and trays
- Shredded paper in a paper bag that is rolled or stapled shut
Buckets that hold automotive fluids, pesticides, herbicides or other hazardous materials are not accepted. Batteries, hazardous waste, food, liquids and garbage are also not allowed.
There’s no limit on how much people can bring, but the site takes only the listed materials.
“It’s not anything that folks want to recycle that their bin doesn’t take,” Bertolucci said.
All items must be empty and dry. Bertolucci said the most common problems are people bringing materials that aren’t on the list and items that are dirty, such as foil with food stuck to it or a greasy plastic lid.
“The big thing that folks should really check before they go is making sure that the items they want to recycle and drop off are actually on the list,” Bertolucci said.
Recyclables are dropped off through the same entrance as donations at The Arc, and the hours are the same: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The store is closed to donations and recycling drop-offs on Sundays.
The Recycling Modernization Act requires Circular Action Alliance to open drop-off sites throughout Oregon with a goal of 144 by the end of 2027. Bertolucci said the organization started with existing solid waste facilities and recycling depots but needs more locations than those can provide.
“The Arc made sense because it was a great location,” Bertolucci said. “People are already dropping off some other items there. So it just made a perfect fit.”
In a news release announcing the site, store manager Anna Stevenson said she was excited to partner with RecycleOn.
“I have a very environmentally conscious team here at The Arc and we are happy to help do our part in reducing waste,” Stevenson said.
Circular Action Alliance supports its host sites with collection service, signs, educational materials, some staff support and funding.
“So making sure that they have everything they need to be successful,” Bertolucci said.
Materials are picked up by a partner company that already runs trucks around the state and uses its extra capacity. Bertolucci said pickups happen as often as needed to keep the bins from overflowing.
Under the state law, everything collected, whether from curbside bins or drop-off centers, has to go to what are called responsible end markets.
“That’s the place that turns the items into the building blocks for new products,” Bertolucci said.
Where materials end up depends on the type of plastic, metal or paper. The law requires tracking, reporting and auditing to confirm that each processor meets the standard.
Circular Action Alliance judges a site’s success by pounds collected, the number of people using it and the kinds of materials coming in. Bertolucci said a business bringing in a lot of material is welcome, but the goal is a site “used by a wide swath of the community.”
New centers have been opening quickly. As of early this week, 86 sites were listed on the program’s online locator, a number Bertolucci said has been “changing, I think, by the week lately.”
The only other current Benton County location is a RecycleOn Center at 2363 NE Belvue St. in Corvallis. It’s open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.
A full list of locations, hours and accepted materials is available at RecycleOn.org/OregonCenters.
