Garbage and Recycling

We support the Oregon Green Schools program. Certified Oregon Green Schools enjoy the following benefits:

• development of an effective waste reduction and resource conservation program that allows students to explore real-life, hands-on topics
• opportunity to attend the annual Oregon Green Schools Summit, which provides students and staff with interactive workshops, school displays, networking and inspiration to help improve their programs
• recognition on the Oregon Green Schools website and local publications
• framed certificate, plaque or flag to recognize your school's certification

Interested in becoming a Green School? Check out Oregon Green Schools to download an application or see a sample application. If you have questions about the process, contact wasteinfo@clackamas.us or 503-557-6363.

Clackamas County Green Schools

=Premier     =Merit     =Green

Ardenwald Elementary
Bolton Primary
Butte Creek School
Candy Lane Elementary
Carus Elementary
Cedaroak Park Primary
Columbia Academy
Deep Creek Damascus
Forest Hills Elementary
Jennings Lodge Elementary
Hallinan Elementary
John McLoughlin Elementary
Lake Grove Elementary
Lakeridge Jr. High
Linwood Elementary
Lowrie Primary
Milwaukie High
Molalla Elementary
Molalla High
Molalla River Middle
North Clackamas Christian
Oak Creek Elementary
Oregon City Service Learning Academy
Oregon Trail Elementary
Portland Waldorf School
Redland Elementary
Rex Putnam High
River Grove Elementary
St. John the Apostle
Scouters Mountain Elementary
Sojourner Elementary
Springwater Environmental Sciences
Spring Mountain Elementary
Stafford Primary
Trillium Creek Primary
Verne Duncan Elementary
View Acres Elementary
West Hills Montessori
Westridge Elementary
Willamette Primary School
Wilsonville High

We offer resources and assistance to help your school set and meet recycling and waste reduction goals. Our work is in partnership with the Clackamas County Refuse and Recycling Association. Explore our resources below.

Contact: wasteinfo@clackamas.us

Free Resources

Educational posters for the classroom, office, and cafeteria

Make sure everyone in your building knows what to do with their recyclable, compostable, and disposable items. These posters can support your school’s waste reduction program.

Free recycling and composting bins 

Workbooks and Guides

Certify As An Oregon Green School

Clackamas County is a partner of Oregon Green Schools, a statewide organization that celebrates and supports school sustainability. For certification assistance and information, contact wasteinfo@clackamas.us.

Certification tracks: We will support you in the stage of s

• Waste and Recycling
• Green Lunchrooms
• Walk and Roll to School
• Garden and Grounds
• Energy Conservation
• Waste Water and Wetlands

Reduce Wasted Food At School

Compost food scraps at school

Some schools in Clackamas County are eligible to collect compostable food scraps through a commercial composting program. Other schools may consider a small garden composting program. Whatever your needs, we are here to help. Contact us for assistance. 

Milk dispensers 

Since 2017, Clackamas County has been helping schools transition from disposable milk cartons to using milk dispensers with a washable cup for milk service. This transition has saved thousands of gallons of milk and prevented hundreds of thousands of cartons from ending up in the landfill.

Fluorescent lamps are more energy efficient and last much longer than incandescent lights, and can be recycled after they burn out. These lamps help consumers and businesses cut lighting energy use and reduce energy costs. However, as with any product that contains mercury, it is important to dispose of fluorescent lamps properly to protect public health and the environment.

The following information and resources below will help keep you, your staff and your customers safe.

• Identify which lamps are fluorescent
• Create a plan to recycle fluorescent lamps
• Where to recycle lamps
• How a fluorescent lamp is recycled
• How to clean up broken lamps
• Request lamp boxes and additional resources
• Other hazardous waste

Identify which lamps are fluorescent

Businesses in Oregon discard millions of lamps each year, making them the largest source of mercury in our waste stream. Fluorescent lamps include tubes, bulbs and CFL lights. Information about recycling and storing applies to all fluorescent lamp types.

Lamps that contain mercury:

Fluorescents

• U-tubes
• Circular tubes
• Linear tubes
• UVA bulbs
• Compact fluorescent lights (CFL)

High Intensity Discharge

• Mercury vapor
• High-pressure sodium
• Metal halide lamps
• Neon lighting

Create a plan to recycle fluorescent lamps

1. Make sure responsible staff know the regulations and good management practices. If you are unsure about what is required of you, contact the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) at 503-229-5913.
2. Store used lamps properly.
   1. Place them in a cardboard box. For tube lights, the box the bulbs came in works well. For smaller bulbs, any box will do.
   2. Do not put tape or rubber bands on the lamps.
   3. Place the box in a safe, dry area where lamps won't break.
   4. Label the box with a poster about proper fluorescent lamp handling.
3. Choose where your business will recycle the lamps. See list below.
4. Plan who will take the lamps to be recycled when the collection box fills.
5. Let coworkers and janitorial staff know about your lamp recycling, show them the collection area and proper handling instructions.

Where to recycle lamps

1. Contact your property manager. They may recycle fluorescent lamps for tenants.
2. Join a mail-back service.
3. Find a nearby facility that collects and recycles fluorescent lamps. See list below.
4. Search Metro's Find a Recycler tool or Earth911 for other options.

Drop-off locations

• Batteries Plus 
  4812 SE 82nd Avenue
  Clackamas, OR 97266
  503-771-1377
• Pride Disposal Co. 
  13910 SW Tualatin-Sherwood Road
  Sherwood, OR 97140
  503-625-0725

Pick-up services

• Environmental Protective Services 
  503-393-1239
• URT 
  503-722-2236

Retail outlets

Some retail outlets accept compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) only for free recycling. Below is a brief list:

• IKEA
• The Home Depot
• Lowes
• True Value

How is a fluorescent lamp recycled?

• Fluorescent lamps contain glass, metal and mercury. When they are used, the mercury vaporizes and adheres to the glass. The lamp recyclers use special equipment to remove all the mercury from the glass and then recycle the metal, glass and mercury separately.
• Clackamas County thanks businesses that properly dispose of these highly efficient lighting devices.

How to clean up broken lamps

1. Leave area for 15 minutes.
2. Open windows and shut off forced air.
3. Use damp paper towel or wet wipes to collect material (never vacuum).
4. Put all material in a sealed plastic bag.
5. Place sealed bag in trash.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offers detailed instructions for cleaning up a broken CFL, including the differences between cleaning up hard surfaces versus carpeting or rugs.

Additional recycling resources

We offer a variety of free recycling services and resources for businesses. Email us at lis@clackamas.us or call 503-742-4458.

Have other hazardous waste?

Contact Metro's Recycling Information Hotline at 503-234-3000 for options near you.

If your business generates less than 220 pounds of hazardous waste, you can enroll in Metro's Very Small Quantity Generator (VSQG) program.

If you are not sure which products are hazardous, look at the labels. They will include words such as warning, caution, danger, flammable, corrosive and poison. Never pour these products down the drain or put them in the trash.

Do you use any of these common hazardous products at your home?

• Paints, stains, solvents and thinners
• Batteries
• Propane tanks
• Household cleaners and disinfectants
• Fire extinguishers
• Pesticides and poisons
• Aerosol spray products
• Mercury-containing products (fluorescent light bulbs and tubes, thermometers, thermostats)
• Automotive fluids
• Pool and spa chemicals
• Art and hobby chemicals
• Sharps (medical syringes, lancets, etc.)

If you do have them and need to get rid of them, Metro's hazardous waste facilities in Oregon City and NW Portland provide safe disposal. A $5 fee covers up to 35 gallons of hazardous household products.

Reduce the hazardous products you use at home:

• Choose safer alternatives, see Metro's Green Cleaning, "The Hazardless Home Handbook" and Natural Yard & Garden information.
• Buy only what you need
• Share leftovers with someone who can use them

Inclement Weather Conditions

Franchisees may postpone collections when weather conditions make driving hazardous. In situations where garbage, recycling, and yard debris collections are all postponed to subsequent week(s), franchisees will give priority to the collection of garbage. 

Garbage

The franchisee will pick up postponed collections of garbage as weather and road conditions permit. If collection must be postponed to a subsequent week(s), the cumulative amount of the current subscribed service level will be collected.

Recycling

Collection will be postponed to a subsequent week(s) as weather and road conditions permit. Resumption of recycling collection may be postponed past the following week if there have been several days of inclement weather and the franchisee is using available staff and trucks to catch up on garbage collections.

Yard Debris

Collection will be postponed to a subsequent week(s) as weather and road conditions permit. Resumption of yard debris collection may be postponed past the following week if there have been several days of inclement weather and the franchisee is using available staff and trucks to catch up on garbage and recycling collections. When collection resumes the cumulative amount of the current subscribed service level will be collected.

Notification of Postponed Collection

The franchisee will notify Clackamas County by 10 a.m. by telephone or e-mail on the days that collection will be postponed. The franchisee will update their voicemail and web site at least daily, notifying customers of postponed collections.

Billing

Postponed collections are not considered missed collections, because the service is rendered in due course. Credits are not available for postponed collections due to inclement weather.

From the Franchisee General Responsibilities section of the Administrative Regulations for Clackamas County Solid Waste and Recycling Collection Services for Franchisee and Customer.

Between April and June of 2018, we were in a number of neighborhoods to provide individualized feedback on how residents were recycling. You may have found an informational tag on your cart when you retrieved it from the curb. The tags recognized recycling carts that contained properly sorted recycling or alerted residents to items that did not belong in their recycling cart.

What were the project results?

During the first week, only 37 percent of homes across all neighborhoods received a ‘Nice Job’ tag. By the sixth and final week of the study, that number had risen to 54 percent. The most common items people mistakenly recycled included plastic bags, paper towels, to-go cups for hot and cold drinks, and plastic ‘clamshell’ containers. None of these items belong in curbside recycling.

County staff will use the lessons learned during this pilot project to inform future cart tagging efforts.

Why did we do this project?

The presence of non-accepted materials in recycling has been an ongoing issue. For example, a 2015 study found that, in our region, nine percent of the materials placed in single-family recycling actually belonged in the garbage.

Due to changes in global recycling markets, the cost to process recycling has risen significantly. The most important contribution you can make is to put only approved materials in your recycling. By recycling correctly, you help keep recycling quality up and costs down, all while keeping valuable materials out of the landfill.

How were carts evaluated?

Clackamas County contracted with an authorized third-party contractor who specializes in waste and recycling. The contractor observed what was in recycling carts, then left the appropriate feedback tag. They did not remove items. They followed professional standards set by the County. Data collected, including any information pertaining to recycling at your household, is confidential and anonymous. You may remove the tag placed on your cart.

What can and cannot be recycled at home?

Even if you believe you are recycling right, it is always good to review the recycling list.

Questions?

If you have questions about recycling, the project, or have concerns, please contact us at 503-742-4463.

Many schools aren't easily able to recycle milk cartons. As a result, most milk cartons from schools end up in the garbage. The transition from milk cartons to dispensers and washable cups can cut cafeteria waste in half, on top of reducing milk waste and students drinking more milk! Learn more about milk dispensers in Clackamas County schools.

Posters and Containers

To request posters and containers, contact Leaders in Sustainability at greenbiz@clackamas.us.

Posters

Containers

Nearly 25% of Clackamas County's population lives in multifamily communities. Multifamily communities include condos, apartments, townhomes, retirement and assisted living and mobile home parks with five or more units. They are provided with one of two types of solid waste and recycling service — commercial dumpster service or individual cart service. The service received depends on the unique space and capacity characteristics of each community.

Did you know?

Property owners and managers are required to provide residents with access to recycling. If garbage or recycling is not provided at your community, please contact a Clackamas County Multifamily Waste Reduction Specialist to get started.

Recycling resources

We offer recycling resources to meet the unique needs of multifamily communities including signs, brochures and durable bags to help transport recyclables to on-site recycling areas.

We also provide the following support to help with on-site recycling and waste prevention:

• Site visits and waste reduction consultation
• Presentations at tenant association and community room events
• Information for tenant newsletters, emails and new tenant packets
• Assistance promoting reuse and how to prevent waste

You play a very important role in your community's waste reduction and recycling efforts. Reduce, reuse, and then [italics] recycle right to have the greatest environmental impact. Follow these steps to recycle right in your community:

1. Locate the nearest garbage and recycling area(s) in your community. Ask your property manager to show you the area if you cannot find it.
2. Learn what can be recycled - Mixed recycling consists of paper, metal, plastic bottles and tubs. Review the recycle guide (available in seven languages) for what can go in the recycle bin. Unsure about a specific item? Call Metro's Recycling Hotline (503-234-3000) to clarify if a material can be recycled. It is always best to follow this saying – "if in doubt, leave it out."
3. Separate out materials - Keep mixed recyclables separated from your garbage. Rinse containers to remove food and flatten cardboard boxes before recycling to save space in the recycling container so your neighbors can recycle too.
4. Bring recyclables to community recycling containers - Use a reusable bag to transport recyclables or if you decide to use a plastic bag, empty the recyclables into the recycling container and take your plastic bag back with you. Plastic bags do not belong in the recycling bins because they cause a lot of problems at the recycling sorting facilities.
5. Learn how to manage materials that don't go in the garbage or recycling such as bulky items, electronics, fluorescent lamps and hazardous chemicals.

Your building's owner or property manager is responsible for providing and paying for garbage and recycling services. They're also responsible for providing you with information about how to recycle at move in, where collection areas are located, as well as offering a yearly reminder. Encourage your property owner or manager to take advantage of free recycling resources today!

Together you and your neighbors can help your community save on disposal costs, valuable resources and maintain a desirable place to live.

Interested in learning more about the recycling system?

Oregonians are proud recyclers. Learn how actions you take in your ordinary daily activities impact the environment and how you can positively effect change in your communities.