News and Events from Recycling Advocates - We are resending our December issue in case you missed it!
6 new board members and 3 new campaigns!
Recycling Advocates E-Newsletter
December 2019
www.recyclingadvocates.org | info@recyclingadvocates.org
Engaging people in creating a sustainable future through local efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle.
Contents
A Message from Board President, Brion Hurley
New Board Members
New Campaigns for 2020
Recap of Our Annual Meeting
Topics of Interest
Plastic Roads Initiative
A Message From Brion Hurley, RA Board President
Happy Holidays! As we wrap up the year, we want to share some exciting news!
We have added six new board members to our organization, and may be adding a couple more in the next month or two.
This was a major goal as we entered into our annual meeting in September, and the response we received from the community was very inspiring!
We also asked for input to help define our direction going into 2020.
The new board members are committed to helping us launch 3 new campaigns that will help re-purpose materials and encourage and educate community members on reuse and reduction initiatives.
Read below to learn about our wonderful new board members, and learn about our new campaigns!
Welcome to New RA Board Members!
Scott Rosin
Michael Freudenthal
Tara Knierim - Secretary
Brittney Wendall
Evelyn Ferreira
Alina Labek
These new members bring much needed new energy and expanded ideas to Recycling Advocates.
If you'd like to get involved with one of these campaigns as a team member or part-time volunteer, then contact one of the leads of that campaign from our Board page or the specific Campaign page listed above.
Visit our Campaigns page to find the latest about each initiative.
RECAP! Our very well-attended Annual Meeting!
In September we had a great gathering at Floyd's Old Town Coffee Shop and had very supportive attendance of over 50 people! Thank you for all who joined us!
As a result of that awesome turnout, we were able to recruit new members who donated, as well as new board members! THANKS TO ALL!
We also had three guest speakers who talked about their experiences in the arena of reuse and reduction of waste. If you did not attend you can view the video of our speakers here. We want to give a shout out and thanks to these female-led enterprises that are truly making a difference!
We also heard about Plastic Upcycling efforts on the Oregon coast, and the Recycling Receipt
PS. If you know of an enterprise that deserves a spotlight for their work in reducing waste in our region, please forward your thoughts to info@recyclingadvocates.org so we can share amongst readers of this newsletter! Thanks!
PS - if you have Topics of Interest you want to share with links, please forward to info@recyclingadvocates and we will share with readers on this newsletter Thank you!
An Introduction to Plastic Roads
by Scott Rosin, RA Board Member-At-Large
The route to joining RA has been circuitous and somewhat unexpected, and similar to the creation of Plastics Up-Cycling, a fledgling organization created by Katharine Valentino and myself within the last few months. We served for almost a year as Chair and Co-Chair of the Newport Chapter of Surfrider Foundation, motivated to address the current growing dire plastic pollution problem. After considerable research and identifying one large-scale solution to be the incorporation of most types of plastic into asphalt paving, we quickly found that the sequence of steps necessary to accomplish diverting most forms of this waste would entail much more than simply encouraging waste management companies to collect and shred it, and asphalt companies to add it to the mix.
We had discovered an existing company in Scotland that created a proprietary catalyst or “activator” that chemically binds the molecules of waste plastic and bitumen into a combination that obviates the problem of the plastic leaching into the ground. A mile of road utilizes the equivalent of 1.1 million plastic bottles and would lessen the pressure on landfills considerably. The company, Macrebur Plastic Roads has been involved in paving projects around the world since 2003. The material results in roads that fracture less and last longer than conventional asphalt pavement. Trials in the USA are currently ongoing at sites in New Jersey, Georgia, North Carolina, and California.
We soon discovered that the Surfrider Foundation would not sponsor any plastic pollution effort other than those involving source reduction. And also for ODOT to allow this substance to be utilized it would have to be tested by an independent lab at a cost of about $70,000-$100,000. The good news was that such a lab exists at Oregon State University and agreed to run the tests if we could raise the money. More good news was that the DEQ had materials grants available in the amount of $600,000. Katharine and I resigned from Surfrider Foundation and began searching for a 501c3 that would sponsor our project, one of many requirements. We found Recycling Advocates and I committed to serving on the board of directors. The grant application was due at the DEQ on October 4, and we managed to submit it on October 3.
Unfortunately, we were not one of the grant awardees this year. But we have other opportunities for grants and fundraising to pursue.
In the meantime, I look forward to meeting and working with the membership of Recycling Advocates. To learn more about Plastic Up-Cycling, visit the website Katharine has created at https://plasticupcycling.org or the Facebook Page: https://facebook.com/plasticupcycling/
Alexander Scott Rosin
Recycling Advocates Board Member | Plastic Up-Cycling Co-Lead
recyclingadvocates.org | plasticupcycling.org | facebook.com/plasticupcycling/
plasticupcyclingscott@gmail.com
Give and get back!
If you follow what Recycling Advocates has contributed over the years (decades) we welcome your monetary contribution to keep our efforts underway. To be a voting member we ask an annual contribution of $50. Voting allows you to vote in members to the board at our annual meeting and weigh in on important programs that require resources. Please consider this level of participation. Of course, we welcome any level of financial support to the RA mission. Please scroll on below to add you end-of-the-year-contribution now. THANK YOU!
Recycling Advocates is one of the dozens of non-profits and charities that you can allocate your Bottle Drop funds towards. You can do this by simply logging into your account and clicking the Give tab. We also have BLUE bags pre-tagged with the Recycling Advocates account number if you are planning a collection or drive. Please contact Denise at info@recyclingadvocates to obtain those. We appreciate your donation to help keep our campaign going! Visit Bottle Drop Give HERE
We're always happy to hear from you if you have feedback, or if you'd like to get involved with RA, or if you know of a coffee shop we should connect with. Contact us at info@recyclingadvocates.org or 503-777-0909.
For details of local area "green" events see the Events Calendar on our website.
Here are some ways to contribute to Recycling Advocates that won't cost you a penny. Fred Meyer Community Rewards: shop with your Fred Meyer Rewards Card, continue to earn your rewards points, fuel points and rebates, and Fred Meyer will donate to Recycling Advocates! Sign up here, and select Recycling Advocates, nonprofit number 90398. Amazon Smile: Amazon donates .5% of the price of your eligible purchases to RA whenever you shop at smile.amazon.com. You'll see all your usual account settings and exactly the same products and pricing as at amazon.com. Learn more and sign up here. GoodSearch & GoodShop: Support RA and save money at Goodsearch.com and Goodshop.com. Find store coupons, coupon codes, discounts, deals and promo codes. Join here and select Recycling Advocates.
