Waste WiseReduce • Reuse • Recycle

A public service of Tillamook County Solid Waste

Disposing of animal carcasses po-tentially looms as a major prob-lem for Tillamook County

dairies in the future. But there is a possi-ble solution that could lead to the countybecoming more self-sufficient.That’s the conclusion of a recent fea-

sibility study commissioned by Tillam-ook County, the Tillamook CountyPeople’s Utility District, The Port ofTillamook Bay, the Tillamook CountyCreamery Association and the TillamookCounty Economic Development Coun-cil.The $100,000 study – conducted by

Tetra Tech, Inc, of Pittsburgh, Pa. – pre-sented three possible scenarios to con-sider. One proposes the development ofan anaerobic digester and compostingfacility capable of generating enoughcompressed natural gas to power a fleetof commercial vehicles while also pro-ducing commercially saleable compostmaterials.Tillamook County Solid Waste Coor-

dinator Jennifer Purcell said the studywas undertaken to determine the eco-nomic feasibility of creating green en-ergy and other marketable productsusing cow carcasses and other wastesfrom the county’s 110 dairy farms with-out having to dispose of them outsidethe county.Purcell noted that there are no dis-

posal or transfer facilities in TillamookCounty that are permitted to handle ani-mal remains and that Oregon’s last re-maining rendering plant closed in 2007.Cow carcasses from Tillamook Countyare now hauled to the Coffin ButteLandfill in Corvallis at a cost of about$250,000 a year.“While Oregon’s Department of En-

vironmental Quality currently permitslandfill disposal of animal mortalities,this could be discontinued at any timeand is therefore not sustainable,”Purcell said. “More impor-tant, these are valu-able waste

resources for which we should be evalu-ating alternatives to landfill disposal.” According to Shawn Reiersgaard, Di-

rector of Environmental and PoliticalAffairs for the Tillamook CountyCreamery Association, disposal of ani-mal carcasses in Tillamook County isdifficult for a couple of reasons.“First, there’s the high water table,”

he said. “Then there’s the number ofstreams and rivers here with setback re-quirements. The cooperative is lookingfor a more permanent and less costlyway to manage these mortalities.”The study not only looked at ways of

using cow carcasses to create energy, italso considered cow manure and othercomplimentary “feedstocks” for the pro-posed digester.Two alternate scenarios evaluated the

construction of digesters scaled to pro-duce enough electricity to power 20,000homes.That might not be practical, given the

limitations of the local electrical grid,according to Keith Henn, Tetra Tech’sdirector of remediation and energy, whopresented the finished study in Tillam-ook County in August.Henn said the study looked at two po-

tential digester configurations. The firstwas a smaller, “complete-mix anaerobicdigestion system” that would processmanure from 3,000 milking cows, 1,700tons of “cow mortality” a year andother wastes, including fats, oils andgreases. The second was a larger,two-tank operation that wouldhandle the cow mortalitiesalong with manure from6,000 cows and other

See COWS,Page 2

It wasn’t all that long ago that customers of the Tillamook Transfer Station onEkloff Road felt as if they were in a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller,“The Birds.”Everywhere you looked, thousands of seagulls were perching on buildings,

flying through the air and waddling along in front of vehicles making their wayto the tipping floors and transfer trailers where food was accessible.The gulls are all but gone now, thanks to a contract approved by county offi-

cials and the tireless efforts of a few fearsome falcons.“Falcons are natural predators of seagulls,” explained Kort Clayton, a fal-

coner who works for AirStrike Bird Controlof Atascadero, Calif.Clayton and three of his falcons

began working at the transfer stationin May and, according to county of-ficials, the change has been remark-able.Clyde Zeller, vice-chair of the

County Solid Waste Advisory Commit-tee, told the Headlight-Herald in July,“The results have been stunning.”Officials estimate that as many as

2,000 of the pesky gulls had beeninfesting the facility at anygiven time over the past sev-eral years.Besides being a nui-

sance, the e-coli bacteriafound in the gulls’ drop-pings were contami-nating runoff from theproperty putting thecounty in violationof Oregon Depart-ment of Environ-mental Qualityregulations andpossibly expos-ing it to severefines, accordingto County SolidWaste Coordina-tor Jennifer Pur-cell. “The Transfer

Station staff was

Fall 2011•

Falcons Rule!Pesky gulls take flight from raptor patrol

Energy from animal carcasses?

Agencies working on co-generation plan

Toread

the fulltext of the

116-page reportin pdf format, go to:

http://www.co.tillamook.or.us/gov/SolidWaste/

ResourceRecovery.htm and click on “Tillam-ook BioEnergy Study Final Report.”

503 MAROLF LOOP, TILLAMOOK • (503) 815-3975 • WWW.CO.TILLAMOOK.OR.US/GOV/SOLIDWASTE

See GULLS,Page 2

having to battle the gulls just to do theirjobs,” Purcell added. “And the droppingsare corrosive. The wear and tear on ourcounty facilities was significant; we re-cently had to replace the roof on one of thebuildings.”On a typical day now, no seagulls are

visible on site; only about 20 seagulls canbe seen on the property at their peak.“It’s fantastic,” Purcell said. “The waste

haulers, transfer station staff and publicloves that the gulls are gone.”Falcons have been used in agriculture

to abate pest birds, according to Purcell.But, she added, they’re relatively new tosolid waste facilities.Originally, the county issued a $22,000,

eight-week contract with AirStrike.Clayton said that, for the first three

weeks, the falcons patrolled the propertyseven days a week. Gradually, their pres-ence was scaled back to three days a weekfor most of the summer.“Things are quieter in the summer

when the weather is better,” Clayton said.“The gulls spend more time in or near theocean because it’s easier for them to findfood there.” This winter, Clayton said, the falcons

will be working four days a week at theproperty. In July, the county extended a

new $49,400 contract through the remain-der of the calendar year.Falconry is a natural technique that is

part of the balance of nature, according toAirStrike officials. It is chemical-free andnon-polluting. And it’s quieter because itdoesn’t employ noise-making techniquesthat attempt to scare pest birds.The idea is not that the falcons actually

hunt the gulls, “although there is somechasing and occasional catching goingon,” Clayton explained. The gulls justhave to see the falcons to know that theyneed to avoid the area.Pest birds are "hard-wired" to be terri-

fied of raptors – falcons and hawks –which are their natural enemies, he said.And pest birds never get acclimated toraptors. But they will get used to noise-makers such as propane cannons, shot-guns, or recorded calls. The gulls’adaptability has made these and other pro-gram elements ineffective over the long-term.As a result of the falcons, Purcell said,

storm water sampling at the site now indi-cates a significant decline in e-coli bacte-ria to “non-detect levels.” Countyofficials will consider continuing the gullabatement program into the new year, bal-ancing the financial investment requiredwith the environmental benefits and otherpositive outcomes, Purcell said.

503 MAROLF LOOP, TILLAMOOK • (503) 815-3975 • WWW.CO.TILLAMOOK.OR.US/GOV/SOLIDWASTE2

Something new was addedto the traditional corndogs, horse racing and

demolition derby at this year’sTillamook County Fair: recycling.For the first time in the fair’s his-

tory, recycling bins were placedthroughout the fairgrounds, and visi-tors and vendors were offered the op-portunity to recycle plastic bottles andcardboard during the Aug. 10-13event. Tillamook County Solid Waste Co-

ordinator Jennifer Purcell said a totalof 1,560 pounds of recyclable materialwas collected – 1,500 pounds of card-board and 60 pounds of plastic bottles.That amounted to 5 percent of the29,240 pounds of garbage generatedby the fair. “It was a pleasure working with the

Tillamook County Fair to introducerecycling at this important communityevent,” Purcell said in a report on thepilot project. “Vendors and fairgoers,alike, expressed appreciation and en-thusiasm over this pilot project.”Purcell said the effort was aided by

recycling volunteers who explainedthe project to vendors and visitors and

collected plastic bottles from areas ofthe fairgrounds that weren’t providedwith recycling bins.Purcell said people generally coop-

erated with the plastics collection.Volunteers had to pick very few non-plastic items from the recycling bins,she noted.Vendors were advised of the project

with a flyer they received earlier in theweek. Vendors generate a significantamount of cardboard during the eventand were happy to cooperate with thenew program. One food vendor con-tributed to the effort by delivering hisown used cardboard to the collectionarea with a forklift he had on the site.Throughout the fair, the garbage crewassisted by ensuring cardboard itemsremained separate from the garbageand delivered them to specified dropboxes for recycling.“Tillamook County Solid Waste

looks forward to continuing this pro-gram and expanding on our initial suc-cess,” Purcell said.

2011County Fair hosts itsfirst wasterecyclingprogram

materials.The study concluded that smaller ver-

sions of the digester system, while costingfar less to build, would not generateenough energy and compost materials tomake them economically viable.A larger system, estimated to cost about

$15 million, could generate compressednatural gas fuel equivalent to 700,000 gal-lons of diesel fuel a year. Compressed nat-ural gas already powers bus fleets and

other vehicles in several cities includingPortland. The study estimated that a sys-tem of this size would pay for itself in15years.“We’re looking to partner with the

county, TCCA and the PUD to handle theissue of mortality,” said Michele Bradley,manager of the Port of Tillamook Bay. “Since we already have a digester per-

mitted to handle cow manure, this wouldbe a sister facility. One of the values addedwould be compressed natural gas. That’s awhole new area for us. The next stepwould be to find funding now that weknow it’s feasible.”

Jeanette Steinbach with one ofthe County Fair recycling bins.

COWSFrom Page 1

GULLSFrom Page 1

Tillamook County surpassed the2010 recycling goal set by the Ore-gon Department of Environmental

Quality.Figures listed in DEQ’s “2010 Oregon

Material Recovery and Waste GenerationRates Report” show that the county recy-cled 37.2 percent of the solid waste itgenerated last year, well over it’s goal of30 percent. In addition, the county’s 2010rate represented a significant improve-ment over the 29.1 percent rate it postedin 2009.Overall, according to DEQ, the state

for the first time last year met its long-sought goal of recycling 50 percent of thesolid waste it generated. Recycled mate-rial amounted to 2.17 tons of the 4.69tons of solid waste generated in the state.The 2010 statewide figure represented

an increase in recycling of 1.7 percentover 2009.“This is good news and may show that

people are more aware of the value of re-source recovery,” said Mary Lou Perry,DEQ’s solid waste and report coordinator.DEQ officials said that recycling and

recovering materials translates into “sig-nificant energy savings and greenhousegas reductions.” The report estimated energy savings in

2010 from recycling equivalent to 258million gallons of gasoline, roughly 3 per-cent of all the total energy used by all sec-tors of the Oregon’s economy. The reportestimated that greenhouse gas reductionslast year resulting from recycling, com-posting and energy recovery were equalto eliminating tailpipe emissions from620,000 passenger cars, or about 4.3 per-cent of all greenhouse gas emission in thestate last year.The report also showed that the

amount of municipal solid waste disposedof in the state in 2010 declined by 2.6percent, compared to a 10.6 percent de-cline in 2009.

County exceeds 2010 recycling goal

BEFORE: Prior to the falcon patrols, seagulls were a major nuisance.

AFTER: Seagulls all but vanished after the falcon program was put in place.

503 MAROLF LOOP, TILLAMOOK • (503) 815-3975 • WWW.CO.TILLAMOOK.OR.US/GOV/SOLIDWASTE 3

It was a long time coming, butTillamook County’s HouseholdHazardous Waste Facility has fi-

nally opened.County officials held a ribbon-cut-

ting ceremony and open house Sept.20 at the new disposal facility, lo-cated on a 200- by 150-foot hillsideparcel at the Tillamook Transfer Sta-tion at 1315 Ekloff Rd. Its firstmonthly collection event was held onSaturday, Oct. 1. “This is the first facility of its kind

on the Oregon Coast,” said Tillam-ook County Solid Waste CoordinatorJennifer Purcell. “Our communitycan be very proud of its ongoingcommitment to minimizing the ef-fects of hazardous substances on pub-lic health and the environment.” Purcell explained that building the

facility took much longer than origi-nally anticipated because of permit-ting delays, weather and otherfactors.

County residents may now safelydispose of common hazardous wasteitems at the facility on the first Satur-day of every month, she said. Subse-quent events were scheduled for Nov.5 and Dec. 3 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Inthe past, the county was only able tosponsor events once a year.According to Purcell, the new fa-

cility can accept paint, batteries, fluo-rescent lights, automotive fluids,cleaners and disinfectants, fertilizers,pesticides, herbicides, poisons, sol-vents and thinners, art and hobbychemicals, aerosol cans, propanetanks or bottles from barbecue grills,and swimming pool or spa chemicals.The $450,000 facility was built

with revenue from the county’s solidwaste operations including fees col-lected at the Tillamook Transfer Sta-tion, Solid Waste Service District taxrevenues and a $66,000 grant fromthe Oregon Department of Environ-mental Quality.

With the recent opening of Tillam-ook County’s Household Haz-ardous Waste Disposal Facility,

local residents may now conveniently par-ticipate in Oregon’s ground- breakingpaint recycling program.July marked the first anniversary of the

Paint Product Stewardship law that re-quired makers of paint sold in Oregon toset up, run and pay for a statewide systemfor collecting leftover paint and recyclingit or delivering it for energy recovery orsafe disposal.At that time, the Oregon Department of

Environmental Quality estimated thatmore than 750 million gallons of latex andoil-based paints are sold in the UnitedStates each year. About 10 percent of thatgoes unused, DEQ said, and constitutesthe largest part of household hazardouswaste that is collected. Oregon’s goal atthe inception of the program was to reuse,recycle or safely dispose of 800,000 gal-lons of paint a year.According to PaintCare, the non-profit

organization that administers the program,469,665 gallons of paint were collected inthe first year of the program. Of the latex

paint collected, 3 percent went to“reuse/exchange,” 57 percent was recy-cled, 8 percent went into cement produc-tion, 4 percent was used for fuel blending,and 28 percent was sent for landfillbiodegradation. Of the alkyd or oil-basedpaints collected, 97 percent went for fuelblending and 3 percent for reuse, Paint-Care officials said.

PaintCare has established 95 collectioncenters throughout the state – 80 of themare based in retail outlets including paintstores and Habitat for Humanity ReStores,and 15 are local government sites includ-ing transfer stations and hazardous wastefacilities.Officials describe retailers as in favor

of the program because they see their par-

ticipation as giving them a competitiveadvantage. Consumers are said to feelthey are doing the responsible thing by re-cycling their paint.“We want to continue to increase our

recycling rate and grow the amount of col-lection sites available to consumersthroughout the state,” said Alison Keane,executive director of PaintCare. “Over 60 percent of paint is currently

being recycled, but we think we can dobetter than that. In addition, we need towork with paint retailers to increase theeducation process at the point of purchasein order to get the message out about theprogram and the economic and environ-mental consequences of paint purchases.”One of PaintCare’s short-term goals is

to get similar legislation passed in Wash-ington State so the program can be regionwide.California is scheduled to roll out a

paint recycling program in July of 2012and Connecticut will follow with its pro-gram in July 2013.For more information about the Paint-

Care program, go online to www.paint-care.org.

New County Hazardous Waste Facility opens

Paint recycling, disposal now available at new collection site

Collections will be on first Saturdays

Waste medication, including over-the-counter drugs and prescrip-tion pharmaceuticals were

collected for safe disposal on Oct. 29, incoordination with the U.S. Drug Enforce-ment Agency’s nationwide “Got Drugs?”campaign.The event boasted three collection sites

in Tillamook County. Early estimates indi-cate nearly 150 pounds of waste medica-tions were collected at the Manzanita,Rockaway Beach and Tillamook sites.

During an event at the Tillamook CountyFairgrounds last year, 72 pounds of phar-maceuticals were collected.The event was conducted by county

solid waste disposal officials along withnarcotics officers from the TillamookCounty Sheriff’s Office.Pharmaceutical wastes constitute a se-

rious threat to human and animal health inthe state. They are particularly harmful toaquatic life when they are flushed intowastewater treatment systems.

Flushing medications down the sinkand toilet can result in contamination ofour source water, impacting drinkingwater and fish populations. The improper storage and disposal of

pharmaceuticals can lead to serious publicandenvironmental health and safety is-sues.Access to unsecured or improperly

stored medications can resultin accidentalpoisonings, overdoses and illegal druguse.

Agencies hold drug

collection day

A ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the opening of the new Household Hazardous Waste facility.

Uses of latex paint collected in Oregon in 2010-11

503 MAROLF LOOP, TILLAMOOK • (503) 815-3975 • WWW.CO.TILLAMOOK.OR.US/GOV/SOLIDWASTE4 � � ������� ��������!��

Your Guide to Recycling in Tillamook CountyFACTS

ALUMINUM

STEEL CANS

PAPER

PLASTIC

GLASS

HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE

HOW TO PREPAREFOR RECYCLING WHERE TO TAKE IT

√ Americans use over 200 millionaluminum beverage cans a day.

√ Using recycled aluminum uses95 percent less energy.

√ Aluminum cans can be recycledinto new cans and back on storeshelves in 60 days.

√ Rinse.√ No other preparation

required.

City Sanitary Manzanita Transfer Station (CART’M Recycling)Pacific City Transfer Station (Nestucca Valley Sanitary)Tillamook Transfer Station (Averill Recycling)

“Redeemables” can be returned for deposit at all grocery stores in Tillamook Countyand are accepted as donation at Habitat for Humanity, 2610 Third St., Tillamook

√ Most metal food containers aremade of steel.

√ Ferrous metals containing ironare attracted to a magnet.

√ Rinse.√ Remove labels.

City SanitaryManzanita Transfer Station (CART’M Recycling), Pacific City Transfer Station (Nestucca Valley Sanitary)Tillamook Transfer Station (Averill Recycling)Recycling Depots: Rockaway, Garibaldi, Bay City, Tillamook

√ Paper is the No. 1 material thatwe throw away; it makes up 35percent of our waste by weight.

√ One ton of paper made from re-cycled fibers instead of virginfibers saves 7,000 gallons ofwater, 17-31 trees, 4,000 kWhof electricity, and 60 pounds ofair pollutants.

√ Anything that comes inthe newspaper can be recycled with thenewspaper.

√ Shredded paper canbe recycled with mixedpaper.

√ Cereal boxes, brownpaper sacks, egg cartons, and othernon-waxy cardboardpackaging can be re-cycled with corrugatedcardboard.

√ Flatten boxes.

Newsprint is accepted at the following:City Sanitary, Manzanita Transfer Station (CART’M Recycling)Pacific City Transfer Station (Nestucca Valley Sanitary)Tillamook Transfer Station (Averill Recycling)Recycling Depots: Rockaway, Garibaldi, Bay City, Tillamook; Kiwanis Recycling Trailerat Les Schwab,1220 Main St., Tillamook

Magazines and catalogs are accepted at:Manzanita Transfer Station (CART’M Recycling)Pacific City Transfer Station (Nestucca Valley Sanitary)Tillamook Transfer Station (Averill Recycling)Recycling Depots: Kiwanis Recycling Trailer at Les Schwab, 1220 Main St., Tillamook

Mixed Paper is accepted at: Manzanita Transfer Station (CART’M Recycling)Pacific City Transfer Station (Nestucca Valley Sanitary)Tillamook Transfer Station (Averill Recycling)

Corrugated cardboard is accepted at:City SanitaryManzanita Transfer Station (CART’M Recycling)Pacific City Transfer Station (Nestucca Valley Sanitary)Tillamook Transfer Station (Averill Recycling)

√ Plastics are coded by materialtype, not recyclability or recycledcontent.

√ By weight, plastics make upabout 11 percent of America’smunicipal solid waste; 25 per-cent by volume.

√ We recycle bottle-neckplastics #1-7; contain-ers with a bottle-neck, regardless of plastictype.

√ Remove lids.√ Rinse.

City SanitaryManzanita Transfer Station (CART’M Recycling)Pacific City Transfer Station (Nestucca Valley Sanitary)Tillamook Transfer Station (Averill Recycling)“Redeemables” can be returned for deposit at all grocery stores in Tillamook County;

also accepted as donation by Habitat for Humanity, 2610 Third St., Tillamook, andother local non-profit organizations. Other plastics such as food containers, butterand yogurt tubs, and rigid plastics are not readily recyclable in Tillamook County.Contact your recycling center for more information about what is accepted.

√ Glass containers are 100% recy-clable .

√ Recovered glass is the main in-gredient in new glass containers.

√ An estimated 80% of recoveredglass containers are made intonew glass bottles.

√ Remove lids.√ Rinse.√ No need to remove

labels.√ Sort glass by color –

clear, green, or brown.

City Sanitary ServiceManzanita Transfer Station (CART’M Recycling)Pacific City Transfer Station (Nestucca Valley Sanitary)Tillamook Transfer Station (Averill Recycling)Recycling Depots: Rockaway, Garibaldi, Bay City, Tillamook

“Redeemables” can be returned for deposit at all grocery stores in Tillamook County.

√ Yard debris and food waste (“or-ganics”) make up approximately¼ of the average household’swaste.

There is no food waste collection system available to the public. Backyard compostingis a great way to reduce your waste and produce a fertile soil amendment.Composters are available for sale at the Tillamook County Public Works office. Call

503-842-3419 for more information.Yard debris (excluding grass clippings) is accepted for recycling at:

Manzanita Transfer Station (CART’M Recycling)Tillamook Transfer Station (Averill Recycling)

Many products can hurt people,fish and wildlife. Never dispose ofhousehold toxics down the drain,on the ground, is a storm drain orgarbage can.

Tillamook County residents can bring their household hazardous wastes to TillamookCounty's Hazardous Waste Facility located at the Tillamook Transfer Station (1315Ekloff Road) on the first Saturday of every month from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. For additionalinformation about hazardous waste collection, toxics reduction and hazardous wasteprevention, contact Tillamook County Solid Waste Department.

City Sanitary(Operated by City Sanitary Service)

2303 11th Street, Tillamook(503) 842-6262

Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Manzanita Transfer Station (Operated by Cart’m Recycling)34995 Necarney Rd., Manzanita

(503) 368-7764Thurs.-Sun, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Tillamook Transfer Station (Operated by Averill Recycling)

1315 Ekloff Rd., Tillamook(503) 842-2431

Open daily, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

Pacific City Transfer Station (Operated by Nestucca Valley Sanitary)

38255 Brooten Rd., Pacific City(503) 965-6898

Fri.-Sat., 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

ORGANICS

For additional information on recycling in Tillamook County, please visit our website at www.co.tillamook.or.us/gov/solidwaste.