Are you ready to go beyond basic recycling? Marion County has just the course for you.
The Marion County Master Recycler Program provides expert instruction to people who live and work in Marion County. The class covers all aspects of solid waste management and ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle as much as possible.
"Many folks wonder why we have an entire class on recycling," says Bailey Payne, a waste reduction coordinator for the county. "But once they get into the class, they discover that we cover a lot more information than simply what can be recycled."
Participants will also learn how commercial operations actually separate materials that are all mixed together in those blue roll cards, why all plastics not alike, how food waste gets composted, and where garbage goes if it doesn't go to a landfill.
The seven-week course will be held on Thursdays from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., September 22 through November 3, 2016. The class also includes two Saturday field trips to eleven local sites that the public seldom gets to see, such as the Covanta energy-from-waste facility, the Garten Services recycling center, and a commercial compost operation.
For more information about this class, visit the Marion County website at http://MCRecycles.net, email environmentalservices@co.marion.or.us, or call (503) 365-3191. Registration closes on Sunday, September 11, 2016, and space is limited to 30 students. The cost is $25.00 and participants must agree to complete 30 hours of relevant volunteer service upon completion.
Over 600 people have participated in the program, which was first offered in Marion County in 1994. Collectively, graduates from the class have contributed over 8,000 hours to educate the community about solid waste issues.
