Recycling or hazardous waste disposal?

•

It is a common misconception that “recycling” is free or should be free. It costs money for recycling centers to do recycling. Some items require extensive processes to properly recycle. Examples would be Batteries and Fluorescent Light Bulbs and CFL’s. The following info will provide you options that are better than throwing things in the landfill. In fact, Fluorescent Bulbs and CFL’s are banned from local landfills.

Batteries:
Ashland Hardware: Alkaline – $2.49/lb; Rechargeable – FREE
Batteries Plus Bulbs: Alkaline – $2.00/lb; Rechargeable – FREE
Annual Hazardous Waste Drop-off at Rogue Disposal: a nominal fee per household (this is NOT recycled…it is incinerated which is not the same thing.) More information on what else can be dropped off at this event will be published later.

Fluorescent Bulbs & CFL’s:
Rogue Transfer & Recycling – $0.25/ft for straight tubes; $1.50 per CFL
Recology Ashland – $0.30/ft for fluorescent tubes; $1.30 per CFL
Water Street Recycling – Residential up to 3 CFL per visit – FREE; commercial must go to transfer station
Home Depot – CFL – FREE; “The Home Depot is proud to offer free CFL recycling in all U.S. stores.” Could not reach an associate to determine if there is a limit to quantity.
Lowe’s – CFL – FREE
Batteries Plus – call for fee structure

Landfill Info – will be published in a subsequent issue
Water Treatment Info – will be published in a subsequent issue

Did you know that Southern Oregon Goodwill Recycles?
Southern Oregon Goodwill recycles 7 million pounds of donations that are not suitable for re-sale. This amounts to 21,538 of their large wheeled totes that you see at drop-off points. Those totes when stacked would reach the peak of Mt. McLoughlin nine times! Many times folks donate items that are not sellable. Southern Oregon Goodwill took the steps to implement recycle programs to handle these materials and keep it out of the local landfills. So the next time you think of throwing away any of the following items, take them to your local Goodwill drop-off instead. Note: if you know your items aren’t resellable, please sort them and tell the attendant to save them time and resources.

The following items were recycled by Southern Oregon Goodwill in 2015. The bold number in brackets are the number of pounds of these items that they recycled.

  • Shoes (soles are used in road repair) [145,000 lbs paired shoes, 177,000 lbs single shoes]
  • Textiles that are ripped, torn, stained, missing buttons or zippers [2.5 million lbs]
  • Books (those old encyclopedias, textbooks, etc.) [646,000 lbs]
  • Plastic Toys [71,000 lbs]
  • Stuffed Animals [28,000 lbs]
  • Ball Caps [5,585 lbs]
  • Kitchen Metals [9,310 lbs]
  • Wire Metals [531,746 lbs]
  • eWaste (Goodwill is a certified eWaste drop-off for the State of Oregon) [1.46 million lbs]
    Note: includes broken small kitchen appliances and lamps (the glass plates in Microwaves are ground down and used in striping paint on roads as reflective material)

Goodwill has an “As Is Store” in downtown Medford at Third and Fir. Items are sold by the pound. Be prepared for a shopping frenzy and digging through totes of items. Great for those upcycling DIY projects!

Ann Hackett
Earthkeepers