August 1, 2009
Recycling efforts may get boost
Local builders want to help Deschutes County get permanent containers at Fair & Expo Center
When people at the Deschutes County Fair reached for bottles of water to combat the baking sun this week, they had at least a few places to recycle their empties.
Temporary containers marked “plastic bottles, aluminum cans” were scattered around the fairgrounds this year, but more durable recycling containers might be on the way, if the county takes up local builders on their offer to purchase recycling containers.
County Commissioner Tammy Baney recently raised the idea of allowing businesses to sponsor recycling containers that would carry advertisements.
“I’ve been approached by the builders (Central Oregon Builders Association) about recycling at the Fair & Expo Center,” Baney said at a recent County Commission meeting. The containers would provide another space for builders to advertise their services at the fairgrounds.
While the builders want to help pay for recycling containers, someone else would need to sort the recyclables, Baney said, so the county might turn to the Oregon National Guard Youth ChalleNGe or juvenile work crews who need to do community service. These groups might be able to make money by returning the cans for the deposit.
Baney declined to give further details this week and wrote in an e-mail that she needs to discuss the idea with the Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center director.
Tim Knopp, executive vice president of COBA, said his organization wants recycling containers available during its home shows at the fairgrounds in Redmond and would eventually like to have containers throughout the fairgrounds.
“We were hoping to have some up and running by the fall show, so we’ve got a bit of work to do between now and then,” Knopp said.
County commissioners Alan Unger and Dennis Luke said during a July 22 meeting that they support exploring the idea.
Last year, the county fair produced 460 cubic yards of garbage and about 60 cubic yards of recyclable cardboard, said Susan Baker, the marketing manager for High Country Disposal in Redmond, which serves the fairgrounds.
“We’ve talked, and we’ve tried some recycling stuff in the past, and we’ve got some (containers) out here as we speak for this year’s fair,” said Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center Director Dan Despotopulos.
The fair currently recycles beverage containers and cardboard from vendors, but the main obstacle to more widespread recycling is that people often throw garbage in the recycling containers.
“Say they’re eating a hamburger and french fries; they just toss it in and then it gets mixed in,” Despotopulos said. “Then you’ve got to pay more money and (devote) more staff effort to clean it up and get what should be recycled.”
In the past, 4-H kids helped the Fair & Expo Center with recycling. “It didn’t last that long because they didn’t want the kids going into these buckets and having to pull out all this garbage,” Despotopulos said.
Despotopulos said he plans to improve recycling for year-round events at the fairgrounds and that recycling is more successful at smaller events because people tend to pay more attention to the recycling containers.
“We just really feel it’s important for all of us to take a leadership role in recycling and taking care of the community we live in,” Knopp said.
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