Weigh in on where your garbage goes
The Metro Council is making decisions about where your garbage goes after 2019. If you are interested in weighing in, sign up for the Opt In panel and take the survey now.
This survey is now closed
In 2013, 64 percent of what residents and businesses in the Portland metropolitan area threw away was recycled, composted or converted to energy – an all-time high. Still, a million tons of garbage comes out of the region every year, enough to fill 2,500 Olympic-size swimming pools.
That garbage has to go somewhere, and right now, that's primarily a landfill.
But that could change.
It’s Metro’s responsibility to manage garbage in a way that protects the environment, protects the public’s health, and gets good value for the public’s money. As the region grows and as innovative technology has emerged that offers new options for dealing with garbage, the Metro Council is discussing opportunities to do more with what the region throws away. While landfills will continue to be the destination for a large portion of the region’s trash, there may be ways to use more garbage as a resource.
Where do you think garbage should go in the future? Would you pay more on your garbage bill to have some of it make energy?
Weigh in on where your garbage goes by taking this short survey.
The survey closes Oct. 28.