Oregon’s recycling system is suffering from a long list of ailments.
Confusing labels and mismatched rules across the state are leading Oregonians to put too much trash in their recycling bins.
Recycling companies are struggling to sort the trash from the recyclables and find buyers for the contaminated material they receive, so a lot of it is getting dumped in landfills. Since China stopped buying contaminated recyclables in 2018, local governments have had to raise the price of recycling collection or make drastic cuts in recycling services. Some places don’t have recycling services at all because it’s too expensive. Read more
