About Us

In Spring 1999, Glenn Pierce (Wasco County Health Department) & Art Braun (then owner of TD Disposal) sat down to apply for a DEQ grant to start the process. “Three planning grants, two facility grants, nine intergovernmental agreements, and five contracts later, we are breaking ground”. A way to reduce environmental health risks to our communities.

The Tri-County Hazardous Waste & Recycling Program provides hazardous waste disposal and recycling education & outreach to residents of Wasco, Sherman and Hood River counties. It is a partnership between Wasco, Sherman and Hood River counties and the local governments of The Dalles, Hood River, Dufur, Maupin, Mosier and Cascade Locks.The North Central Public Health District (formerly Wasco Sherman Health Department) is the lead agency in this coalition. This partnership was formed initially because hazardous waste is an issue that is hard to address one county or one city at a time. By working together, these community partners were able to pool resources and expertise to provide services to all our citizens in a cost-effective way. This unique, collaborative approach has even garnered statewide recognition. In 2007, The Association of Oregon Recyclers presented the program with its ”Community Partnerships Award”, acknowledging the program’s outstanding achievement in building coalitions to prevent pollution and reduce waste in the environment.

Hazardous Waste Collection

The hazardous waste component provides collection and disposal services to households, businesses (conditionally exempt generators CEGs), orchardists and farmers of the Tri County area. The program owns two hazardous waste collection facilities, which are located at, and leased from, The Dalles Disposal Service at 1317 W 1st Street in The Dalles and at Hood River Garbage Service at 3440 Guignard Drive. The two garbage companies, owned by Waste Connections Inc, provides the maintenance and insurance for the facilities; the Tri County program reimburses WCI for its maintenance and insurance expenses related to the facilities.

After many years of planning and work, the hazardous waste collection facilities opened in July 2006, holding 8 collection events in that first season. Events are held both at the permanent facilities and in out-lying areas, including: Cascade Locks, Odell, Mosier, Dufur, Tygh Valley, Maupin and Moro. In 2007, 14 events were held for households, along with 2 events specifically for agricultural producers and businesses. In 2008, 15 events were held for households plus 3 for ag/business. From July 2006 through June 2008, a total of 34 events were held, with more than 1563 participants. A total of 147,985 pounds (almost 74 tons!) of hazardous waste was collected, including more than 37,000 specifically from agricultural producers and businesses.

The types of materials collected at these events include: latex and oil-based paints and stains; septic field, drain cleaners, oven cleaners; gasoline, kerosene, antifreeze, and automotive fluids; pool and spa chemicals; pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers and poisons; thinners and solvents; art and hobby chemicals; cleansers and disinfectants; aerosol spray products; propane tanks and bottles; fire extinguishers; fluorescent and CFL bulbs and old light ballasts; dry cell and lithium batteries; and thermostats and thermometers. The events do not collect radioactive materials (including smoke alarms), biological wastes, or explosives. “Sharps” from home use, such as needles used for insulin injection, are already accepted at The Dalles Disposal Transfer Station.

The program is funded by citizens via a surcharge on garbage dumped at the Wasco Co Landfill (owned by WCI), which appears as a fee on garbage bills; a contribution from Sherman County (whose municipal solid waste does not go to the Wasco Co landfill; and by user fees for special services. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality funded several planning grants and helped fund the building of the facilities. No public debt was incurred to fund the program; nor does funding come from the Wasco County General Fund. The TriCounty program contracts with Phillips Service Corporation to collect and dispose of the hazardous wastes.

Collection and disposal is free for residents of Wasco, Sherman and Hood River counties. It is also free, up to a limit of $400, for agricultural producers and businesses (CEGs). Agricultural producers and businesses set up appointments prior to their specific events by contacting Phillips Services Corporation, which allows for the contractor to be prepared for the amount and types of wastes to be collected.

During collection events, materials are sorted by chemical type and are either set aside for reuse, or prepared for shipping to an EPA-approved handling facility. Most of the material collected is flammable; this included oil-based paints, gasoline and solvents. Flammables are consolidated and sent to specially permitted cement kilns to be burned for fuel. Antifreeze and most batteries are recycled. Acidic and caustic cleaners are neutralized or incinerated. The most toxic materials; pesticides, organic peroxides and other chemically reactive products are thermally incinerated. Relatively few items are sent to specially designed hazardous waste landfills where extra controls, safeguards and monitoring equipment keep the wastes safely encapsulated. All materials are managed in a safe and environmentally responsible manner.

Safety and education is an important aspect of the household hazardous waste collection events. Participants follow clearly marked entries to the collection events, are greeted by program staff, and requested to remain in their vehicle while the contractor unloads the material. Program staff are available to answer questions, and offer free publications about safer alternatives, including two published by Metro and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality: The Hazardless Home Handbook: A Guide to Hazardous Household Products and Effective Alternatives, and Natural Gardening, which presents less toxic approaches to yard and garden care. Participants are encouraged to be knowledgable consumers when making future purchases, and to look for the signal words on package labels that give information about the toxicity of products. The most dangerous products will have words on the label such as “Poison” “Danger” or “Warning”; while less toxic products will have the word “Caution” on the label.

Recycling Education and Outreach

In the fall of 2007, the Program expanded its services to provide recycling planning, education and promotion services to the Tri-County area. As the collaborative framework was already in place from the hazardous waste portion, it was a natural fit. This expanded the work of the program to include the requirements for waste reduction and recycling mandated by the state of Oregon for the three counties. The Oregon Opportunity to Recycle Act (1999) gave the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality statutory authority to mandate waste recovery and recycling rates for counties. At the time, each county was assigned a target level of waste recovery/recycling, based upon historical trends and potential for increased recycling efforts. Wasco County has a target rate of 35%; Hood River County has a target rate of 25%; and Sherman County has a target rate of 20%.

The DEQ monitors the actual recovery rates on an annual basis, using data collected from a variety of sources including recycling companies and garbage haulers. Counties can earn additional credits for a variety of programs that address waste prevention, reuse, and home composting; a county can earn 2% credit for having educational and promotional programs in place in each area, up to a total of 6% additional credits. The latest calculations, from 2006, give the total recycling recovery numbers (including earned credits) for the three counties: Wasco County at 21.2% (short of its target level of 35%); Hood River at 39.3% (exceeding its target level of 25%); and Sherman County as 18.5% (short of its target level of 20%). In 2006, Hood River County was able to earn a total of 6% in additional credits for its on-going programs promoting and encouraging waste reduction, reuse, and home composting. Wasco County was able to qualify for a 2% credit for reuse.

Because Wasco County is significantly below its target level for waste recovery and recycling, this triggered a statutorily-required review of its current recycling service levels. DEQ required a plan to be written to address these issues and plan for improved levels of recycling in the county. This was done in October 2007, entitled Wasco County Wasteshed Recovery Plan Update 2007-2009. To develop the plan update, a committee was formed which included representatives from Wasco County Environmental Health, the franchised garbage and recycle haulers, a DEQ representative and others, who identified barriers to achieving a higher recovery rate and then determined methods for overcoming them. In general, it has been much harder for residents of Wasco County to recycle than for residents of other parts of the state. There were a lack of convenient opportunities for rural customers to recycle, a low rate of recycling among those with curbside service in The Dalles, a lack of financial incentives to reduce waste, no curbside recycling available for commercial customers, and a lack of accurate information about what, where and how to recycle.

The first element of the plan focused on improving the recycling infrastructure in the county, including expanding curbside service, proving financial incentives to recycle such as a smaller option for garbage can collection, and making the depot system more reflective of new sorting and preparation practices for recyclables, as well as more responsive to the needs of citizens. New recycling opportunities were developed for the commercial sector, including the establishment of weekly recycling collection routes in The Dalles using deskside containers and curbside rollcarts. These program changes began in early 2008 in The Dalles commercial sector. In south Wasco County, Mel’s Sanitary Service Inc. began to accept co-mingled recyclables and expanded its hours of recycling drop-off service at the transfer station. The City of Maupin obtained a grant from DEQ to set up a “24-7” self-service recycling depot, which will increase recycling opportunities for residents of south Wasco County.

The second element of the plan focused on improved public outreach and education: what, where, how and why to recycle. This includes assisting and complementing the existing work done by the franchised haulers and the current county programs promoting recycling. The program provides hands-on help to households, businesses and institutional users of the system. This portion of the plan has started to be rolled out in the spring and summer of 2008. Program staff are working with marketing consultant Linda Griswold of The Dalles and graphic designer Micki Chapman of Hood River to develop recycling brochures for the three franchised haulers to distribute to their customers, press releases and newspaper articles, print ads for local newspapers and the Columbia Gorge Magazine, inserts for both The Dalles Area and the Hood River County Chamber of Commerce newsletters, postcards advertising the hazardous waste collection events, and the publication of a half-yearly newsletter. According to members of the Association of Oregon Recyclers, outreach efforts needs to be consistently and constantly educating people in order to help shape their ideas and behaviors, in order to help people make changes in their lives to reduce waste and recycle more.

Another aspect of the Tri-County program is working with local schools to help them with waste reduction and recycling efforts, accessing the statewide Oregon Green Schools program. Program staff are also available for school field trips or presentations to interested groups on “talking trash” topics such as how to recycle, waste prevention or starting a compost pile to deal with yard debris. A new offering from the Tri-County program debuted in August 2008; a free loan program of beverage recycling containers for local events, as a way to help make it easier for people to recycle pop cans and plastic bottles.

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