Lane County COAD is Standing By

Lane County COAD is actively monitoring the Priceboro Fire currently burning near the Linn and Lane county lines, the Salmon Fire currently burning east of Oakridge, the Bedrock Fire on the Middle Fork Ranger District, and the Lookout Fire burning on the Willamette National Forest north of the community of McKenzie Bridge. There are evacuation notifications in effect. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act for the Lookout Fire. A Red Flag Warning is in place until 8 PM.

Lane County residents can get alerted about emergencies by signing up for Lane Alerts at http://lanealerts.org/. Download Watch Duty to view nearby wildfires and firefighting efforts in real-time.

A non-emergency call center is available at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, August 14. The non-emergency call center is 541-682-2055.

Current Fire Information:

• Lane County’s Website – Bedrock Fire

• Lane County’s Website – Lookout Fire

• Lane County’s Website – Priceboro Fire

• Lane County’s Website – Salmon Fire

• Alerta en Español: Emergency Educational International

Wildfire resources:

Know Your Evacuation Zone! Visit the Website Below to Find Out Your Zone:

https://www.eugene-or.gov/4732/Emergency-Evacuation-Zones

• People

  • Evacuation Information

  • Evacuation Checklist and Guidelines (PDF)

  • Lista de comprobación para la evacuación de incendios forestales  (PDF)

  • Acerca de nivel de evacuación (PDF)

  • Evacuation Tips for People with Disabilities

• Pets & Livestock

  • Greenhill’s Disaster & Emergency Updates page

  • Lane County Animal Services

Excessive Heat Watch Resources

For a comprehensive guide to heat-related resources and safety, visit Lane County Public Health  Cooling Center List and Extreme Heat Guidance and Tips.

For fact sheets in multiple languages, visit Oregon Health Authority’s Resource Page

Printable Documents

• ¿Dónde puedo ir para poder refrescarme? PDF

• Where do I go to cool down? PDF

• Black Thistle Zine Summer Tips: When it’s hot and you’re out in it PDF

Lane Transit District is offering free bus rides to cooling centers – more info online Please note that this information is subject to change, and it’s recommended to verify timings and accessibility before visiting.

Eugene Cooling Centers

City of Eugene Community and Recreation Centers

• Amazon and Petersen Barn Community Centers: Mon-Fri, 9 AM – 5 PM

• Hilyard Community Center: Mon-Fri, 9 AM – 5:30 PM

• Sheldon Community Center: Mon-Fri, 8 AM – 6 PM

• Campbell Community Center: Mon-Fri, 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM

• Splash pads are on 7 days a week, including holidays, from 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. at:

  • Fairmount Park (E. 15th Ave. and Fairmount Blvd.)

  • Oakmont Park (2295 Oakmont Way)

  • Skinner Butte Park (248 Cheshire Ave.)

  • Washington Park (2025 Washington St.)

• Amazon Pool is open every day for drop-in lap swims, Rec swims and parent/child swims. A complete schedule is available on the Amazon Pool webpage.  Echo Hollow Pool also has drop-in lap swims and Rec swims every day but is closed Sunday. A complete schedule is available on the Echo Hollow Pool webpage. Sheldon Pool also has drop-in lap swims and Rec swims every day but is closed Saturday. A complete schedule is available on the Sheldon Pool webpage.

Oregon Department of Human Services

• 2885 Chad Drive, Eugene: Mon-Fri, 8 AM – 5 PM, Sat-Sun Closed

• 2101 W 11 Ave, Eugene: Mon-Fri, 8 AM – 5 PM, Sat-Sun Closed

Eugene Public Libraries

• Downtown Library, 100 W. 10th Avenue: Mon-Thu, 10 AM-8 PM | Fri-Sun, 10 AM-6 PM

• Bethel Branch, 1990 Echo Hollow Road: Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat: 10 AM-6 PM | Tue: 12-8 PM | Sun: Closed

• Sheldon Branch, 1566 Coburg Road: Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat: 10 AM-6 PM | Tue: 12-8 PM | Sun: Closed

Looking Glass Youth Sites

• New Roads (Ages 16 to 24), 941 W 7th Ave, Eugene: Mon, Wed, Fri 8:45 AM – 5 PM

• Station 7 (Ages 11 to 20), 931 W 7th, Eugene: Open 24/7

Other Locations

• Eugene Family YMCA, 2055 Patterson St: Mon-Thu 5:30 AM – 9 PM | Fri 5:30 AM – 7 PM | Sat 6 AM – 4 PM | Sun 9 AM – 4 PM

• Emmaus Lutheran Church (ELCA), 1250 W 18th Ave: Tue-Thu 9 AM–12 PM | Sun 9:30–11:30 AM

• First Baptist Church of Eugene, 3550 Fox Meadow Rd: Mon-Thu 8:30 AM–5 PM | Fri 8:30 AM–12 PM | Sun 8:45 AM–12 PM

• Nurturely Drop-In Hour + Feeding Support: Lactation Lounge, 56 E 15th Ave: Thu (8/18) 11 AM – 3 PM, Sat (8/20) 11 AM – 3 PM. [Updated Hours](https://nurturely.org/lounge/)

• Saint Vincent de Paul’s Eugene Service Station, 456 Hwy 99N: Mon-Fri, 8 AM – 4:30 PM

Eugene Parks and Open Space – August 2023 Newsletter

https://us10.campaign-archive.com/?u=6e8bb448f5dab8671ba5aedce&id=25b24eb3ca

The Transportation Committee typically meets every other Wednesday from 1:00 to 2:00 via Zoom.

We held one meeting in July (July 5).

July highlights:

• The big news is that Linda Duggan is applying for the LTD community steering committee. Because of the short deadline, we have asked Jess to ask LTD CEO Jameson Auten for the staff briefing materials as soon as they are available.
• Jess scheduled a meeting with Jameson Auten to discuss SEN topics of concern. (Meeting rescheduled for Aug.)
• Lucy researched City of Eugene codes for responsibility of maintenance of sidewalks. Eugene requires that private property owners maintain and assume costs of maintaining sidewalks.
• John Q attended a webinar on sidewalks and will share links to audio.
• The committee will host a “neighbor-to-neighbor” Zoom event on Thurs Aug 24 to encourage an exchange of ideas among neighborhoods about sidewalk safety. Rachel Anderson has prepared a draft flyer for the event (attached below).
• The committee received a request from a SEN resident to meet with the committee to talk about initiating Make Way Day in Eugene. This is a movement to improve accessibility for persons with disabilities.
• A letter from the Transportation Committee and the Disaster Preparedness Committee to the City and Councilor Keating re: the potential evacuation routes during a natural disaster was completed. Specifically, what measures does the City have in place in the event that the bridge at Spring Blvd over East 30th Ave and/or the pedestrian bridge at Potter over East 30th fail, e.g, during an earthquake or forest fire?

Respectfully submitted,

Lucy Bambrey

Transportation Committee & SEN Board At-Large

Friends of Tugman – July 2023 Report

The Friends of Tugman (aka The Tuggers) typically meet every other Wednesday from 10:00 am – 12 noon somewhere in Tugman Park. Exact time and park location is dependent on weather conditions and current project.

• We held two volunteer work events in July:  7/12 & 7/26
• July 12^th highlights:  we mulched and weeded in the park’s north end adjacent to the drinking fountain; we weeded several tree rings in the central lawn

• July 26^th highlights: we irrigated the basketball court bed and the shelter/restroom area beds; we weeded misc. areas in the park’s central section; we broke early for a Tugger’s Lunch event at El Jaguar
• Several days in July were spent irrigating the native plantings park-wide by numerous Tuggers.
• Our regularly scheduled bi-weekly Wednesday volunteer work events for August 2023 are:  8/9 & 8/23 (10:00 am – 12 noon).

Red flag warning from 2-7 p.m. July 18, 2023

Sign up for alerts, Know Your Zone, and join your neighbors in the Southeast Neighbors Preparedness Committee.

https://us10.campaign-archive.com/?u=6e8bb448f5dab8671ba5aedce&id=09a58b6028

Neighborhood Leaders Council Meeting 6/27/23

 This meeting was devoted to hearing from City of Eugene Neighborhood Associations on the following topics.

Purpose

• I’ve always seen neighborhood associations as infrastructure for action. They allow you to interact with different agencies, mostly government. When neighbors’ issues come up, or when neighbors have problems or desires, they have some place to go that can facilitate them.
• You develop contacts over time. Then people don’t have to go through the process of trying to find somebody; you can direct them.
• I think the most important thing is that when you interact with the city and staff is that you get them on your side. Understand their constraints. Build relationships.
• The primary purpose of our board is to distribute helpful and useful information.
• We facilitate civic engagement on decisions affecting our neighborhood.
• We foster rich social networks and relationships among neighbors. move towards a more resilient neighborhood.
• The board stands in solidarity to fight for equality and justice for communities of color.
• Our hope is to be proactive and identify issues and avoid that rise and fall of problems.
• You know, we’re the ones that can implement what needs to be implemented.

Advocacy

• You just have to make the effort to reach out. A lot of times you start at the bottom; you work your way up. Have to be kind of relentless about it.
• We started a park centric process for the neighborhood. If you don’t have control over your parks, you can’t control your neighborhood. You get crime and unwanted activity.
• Our biggest win is the affordable housing complex at the Naval Reserve site. We built a coalition and were proactive. When the city was ready to move, we were right there. All we need is $44 million. But that’s their problem. And that’s a tribute to the very intense public process that we went through.
• We have been most successful working through active committees rather than individual board members. We are in regular contact with our city councilor to keep abreast of COE entities.

·       One success was dealing with a company, Zippo Laminator, which is not in our neighborhood. It would start work at 4 in the morning, and send low energy, low frequency pulses into the neighborhood, that kept people awake. At first, the City said that the ordinance doesn’t speak to vibrations that are below the hearing level. But by advocating with our city councilor we were able to get the ordinance modified. Zippo Laminator fought it for 2 or 3 months, and finally gave up.

• The other success I would point to is our collaboration over homelessness and low income issues. We now have a navigation center on River Avenue, a program that’s designed to take up to 75 people at a time who are chronically homeless.
• I’m envious of the lightning speed of those accomplishments. When our board formed 12 years ago, we had a goal of getting a park at Striker Field. Sure enough, 12 years later, it’s being built. It takes persistence and having city councilors on your side. And board continuity.

Outreach Tools

• We usually mail 4 newsletters a year. Color newsletters if possible. People tend to read them more than if they’re in black and white, though that adds to the price tag. So we always have to ask Cindy, ‘Can we be in the red for a while?’
• You can put ads in now. So that’s another way of funding.
• We have set mailings that we do based on our budget. Twice a year a 4 page newsletter and once a year a shorter one, usually ahead of the picnic in June.
• We have 3 different online newsletters. One that goes out every month is the Friendly Flyer. Another is from our emergency response preparedness group. And we have an equity action team that puts out online newsletters when they have something to talk about.
• A digital mailing is sent to all email subscribers the week following the monthly meeting. Each committee is asked to include a link to the summary of their last meeting as posted on the SEN website; the summaries are also included in the monthly meeting minutes. Committees are strongly encouraged to generate written informational ‘articles’ to include in digital mailings.
• We send our email newsletters every single month. I’ve been getting a lot of things from the library, so people are looking for that. And things that are going on with the rec center, Petersen Barn. And I try to make sure that we’re all aware of the city council meetings.
• We found that posters were a lot of effort for probably not much return. So we limit our posters to places that are highly trafficked.
• We are a small neighborhood, about 700,000. We usually send out a newsletter 4 times a year.

It’s 4 pages. We do have an email list, although it’s old and we don’t do much with it.

• it’s a funnel. You have a newsletter that goes to everybody, but if you invite everybody, you invite nobody. Nobody feels special. So you find somebody who’s interested at an event. They join a group. They volunteer. You have one on one conversations. They’re on the board.
• I think word of mouth is the best.

Email Subscriptions

• We have around 850 people on our list. Half of them open it.
• We have about 900 getting our monthly emails and up to 34% opens and 24 clicks. So we have a pretty good following.
• We’ve got about 100.
• We have just short of 800. We get 450 as a high opening number.
• Getting sign-ups is tricky. Every time you have any event, you’ve got to get sign-ups. For years now we’ve been accumulating them, and we’ve only got 600 or 700 people on it. Meanwhile, our mailing goes to 3,000 people.
• We build the email subscriber list slowly, slowly. Every opportunity. When you meet in person you always have to sign up. You funnel people through the doorway past the table where someone snags them to sign up.
• We started using a laptop to sign in. Nobody can write any more, apparently, so you can’t read it right? So we’ve went to the computer. And that made it a lot easier.
• There is a sign-up portal on our website.
• We have a link to sign up, either with a QR Code or a button on the website.
• With iContact or Mailchimp, you know what the number means. With Facebook, you have no idea.

Social Media

• We have a neighborhood Facebook page which has been really successful. It has 600 people in the Facebook group which, given that we’re 700 households, is pretty amazing.
• That’s the public part of it. We require that somebody approve people to be able to post or comment. You do have some control.
• If you post about a city council meeting where something is being discussed, you might get 30 or 40 comments. And 5 or 6 people might show up.
• We’re considering pivoting more heavily into Nextdoor, but that’s an ongoing discussion. Facebook is a much more cordial focus than Nextdoor.
• Our events have been on Nextdoor for the last 3 years. Last year I was for a part of celebration with 300 views, with 150 attendees. We also showed a photo of the mural in West Moreland Park, with over 600 views.
• Over in Whitaker, there is the Whittaker Neighbors Open Group, which is huge. It was started by a board member to have more discussion of issues in the neighborhood. Council members participate in it. It’s separate from the Whitaker Community Council, which has a Facebook page that is more for announcements and information.
• In our neighborhood, there’s a whole bunch of online groups that we are not involved with.
• Facebook seems to be the Boomer generation thing now. Younger people have migrated to Instagram and other platforms, and so I think we really need to keep peddling to keep up.
• It takes a lot of labor to do it right. Doing it not right can sometimes be worse than not doing it at all. Do you use it as an announcement platform, or do you use it as an engagement platform? Because consistency is important.
• it can work against you. If people hijack your system they also hijack your image in your neighborhood. And on all the platforms you get toxic behavior.
• We need a meeting or workshop on social media outreach.

Websites

• We post all our committee reports every month. Instead of taking up meeting time, we board members have access to the website. Transportation and other committees. It’s for outreach too, because we send out a Mailchimp every month, and on it is the link for people to click on to go to that specific committee report. It also has an active calendar on it.
• It’s a great place to store information. You can direct people to it. and it’s just much easier than sending them documents. It’s just a matter of trying to keep it up to date.

Meetings

• We hold board meetings once a month and general meetings every 3 months. We’ve done Zoom all through Covid and are going in-person starting next month. I think we’re all ready to recognize each other at the grocery store.
• Monthly board meetings plus one retreat.
• We have general meetings every month except for summer and December because nobody goes. Recently we’ve split those meetings between Zoom and in person. Zoom when it’s cold and dark and rainy.
• We have had many meeting guests: Beyond Toxics, Quiet Clean Eugene, Bloodworks, Homeshare Oregon, Nightingale Hosted Shelter, City of Eugene Crime Analyst, EWEB, etc. At the annual picnic, foot trucks are invited and many non-profits and several businesses set up tables.
• We bring in our local civic leaders. Our county commissioner. Our city councilor. We also have two special districts, a water district, and parks district. We also bring in EWEB.
• Our city councilor is a member of the association; she generally will come to meetings. Also I regularly meet with Randy Groves because we share a lot of the same policy concerns.
• We hold our elections in October, and in addition we also make sure to put a high draw on the agenda to give us a big general meeting.
• The Board has started holding community ‘Meet & Greet’ events. So far, these events have taken place at local restaurants. Board members meet informally with SEN residents to socialize.
• OECE encourages hybrid because it makes the meetings more accessible. People work or cook dinner for the kids, So it’s a bonus you get with hybrid.

Board Business

• We have 7 on our board right now.
• Our board is right now down to a small group.
• We have 6 people on our board.
• We currently have 11 board members.
• There are just 6 of us. We held a general meeting, pretty successful, about 50 people for a homeless forum. We’re not doing a picnic this year; we don’t have the energy with just 6 people.

• How do we find new board members? A lot of times I invite them from postings that they’ve done on Nextdoor or our Facebook page. When they act interested, I invite them. Also at different events that we’ve had.
• I talk at every single public forum that I can. That way they all know me and understand our concerns with our Bethel visioning.
• When someone shows interest, we reach out and invite them to be more involved, whether that is jumping onto a committee, or coming to a couple of board meetings. That personal touch.
• We hope to build our committees up to the point where they can be incubators for board members. But that’s been a challenge.
• We have an annual retreat after our elections in March, and we try to bring on new members and decide what we’re trying to do for the next year.
• The leaders meet separately with every board member after each election cycle.
• I have been among our board leaders for 10 years. The good thing is that you know everything. It does take a long time to figure out how it all works. It’s good to have a resource like that. They don’t have to be the chair.
• Some of our leaders have been on for years. That was a very good thing for managing during the pandemic.
• Reactivation kicked off with a town hall forum dedicated to Bethel specifically where we gathered our elected officials representing different levels of government. We’ve turned that into an annual event, and now ABC runs that forum. Over the first six months I had a total of 17 meetings to go to get us to be able to hold an election. Neighborhood Services helped us through this phase. Then Lin showed up, and from day one took on event planning, and that really built us into a new group.

Subcommittees

• Our most effective subcommittee is Ready Northwest Eugene, working to get a structure in place, so we can deal with whatever disasters we have to look forward to.
• The other successful group is our Social Justice Committee. Unfortunately, there have been enough things going on to generate the need for them to interact with neighbors.
• Disaster Preparedness and Transportation have been very successful, advocating for resident needs and holding events.
• What stimulates involvement is a perceived community crisis or big community events.

SEN Transportation Committee June Report

The Transportation Committee met once in June. July meetings will resume for the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays at 1:15 and on the 4th Thursday at 7:00-8:00 pm, all on Zoom. All are welcome. Transportation Committee member Lucy Bambrey was recently nominated to the SEN Board with a board resignation in June. 

SIDEWALKS: We had many volunteers express interest in helping neighbors for our sidewalk cleanup day for June. However, we had no neighbors sign up to express sidewalk needs. The event will be offered again in the fall. Neighbor Joan has spoken at meetings and in writing in order to get a sidewalk Make Way Day going in our neighborhood. 

Because we’ve heard from so many neighbors about sidewalks, and many other neighborhoods have as well, SEN Transportation Committee has decided to offer Thursday, August 24th at 7:00 as a cross-neighborhood forum for neighbors to convene and openly talk about needs and what has worked/what other ideas are out there to support active transportation on a safe and contiguous sidewalk network. There will be no speakers or special guests – all neighbors and discussion group format for compiling needs and ideas to take forward in the future. 

Spring Boulevard seismic evaluation failure updates – The SEN Board approved the Transportation Committee’s letter of concern regarding the Spring Boulevard Bridge results/emergency evacuation implications. Linda Duggan met with Councilor Keating and communicated with him about SEN’s concerns. The approved letter was sent in early July via email  and we await a reply. We never heard back from the City regarding which other bridges are higher on the list for seismic repair/retrofitting. 

SPEEDING – Speed Study East Amazon: 36th to Nectar 

Earlier this year, you requested a speed study on East Amazon Drive between E 36th and Nectar Way. Conducting a speed study is often the first step in determining if a street is eligible for traffic calming.

It’s important to note here that the traffic calming program, as it exists today, only installs speed humps and speed cushions on local or neighborhood collector streets. Speed humps and speed cushions are not installed on major collectors, minor arterials, or major arterials.

East Amazon Drive north of Dillard Road is a minor arterial and thus speed humps or speed cushions are not appropriate. There is still value in having speed study results from East Amazon north of Dillard Road, particularly if the traffic calming program ever expands to include other tools to address speeding on major collectors, minor arterials, and major arterials. East Amazon south of Dillard Road is a local street and thus speed humps or speed cushions could be appropriate based on speed study results.

I’ve listed the results from your requested speed study below. Speed studies were conducted at two locations because East Amazon Drive between E 36th and Nectar Way is a longer street segment. As a reminder, to qualify for traffic calming a street must meet all three of the listed criteria. 

East Amazon Drive between Potter Street and E 36th:

1. More than 50% of vehicles are traveling at or above the speed limit (30 mph)
   1. Criteria met: The 50th percentile speed was 33.7 mph
2. The 85th percentile speed is at least 5 miles per hour over the speed limits (30 mph)
   1. Criteria met: The 85th percentile speed was 38.2 mph
3. Average daily traffic (ADT) volume is at least 600
   1. Criteria met: ADT was 5567

East Amazon Drive between Nectar Way and Potter Street:

1. More than 50% of vehicles are traveling at or above the speed limit (30 mph)
   1. Criteria met: The 50th percentile speed was 31.6 mph
2. The 85th percentile speed is at least 5 miles per hour over the speed limits (30 mph)
   1. Criteria met: The 85th percentile speed was 36.3 mph
3. Average daily traffic (ADT) volume is at least 600
   1. Criteria met: ADT was 1433

Based on the speed study, East Amazon Drive between E 36th and Nectar Way qualifies for traffic calming. However, because of the classification of the street, speed humps or speed cushions are appropriate for only the portion of East Amazon Drive south of Dillard Road. I have added this portion of East Amazon Drive to the list of streets that are qualified for speed humps or speed cushions.

The list of qualified streets is reviewed annually as we program our limited traffic calming funds. We consider speed study results, closeness to community destinations (parks and schools), as well as other factors when programming funds. I unfortunately do not have an estimate of when East Amazon Drive south of Dillard Road will receive traffic calming. Traffic calming funds are currently programmed out through 2025.

I realize it may be disappointing to learn that while East Amazon Drive south of Dillard Road qualifies for traffic calming, actual speed humps or speed cushions may still be years away. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any additional questions about the speed study or the traffic calming program.

SPEEDING: West Amazon – Snell to Fox Hollow

You previously requested a speed study along a Eugene street. Conducting a speed study is the first step in determining if a street is eligible for traffic calming (installing speed humps and speed cushions). The City has received results from spring speed studies and is now sharing the results.

You requested a speed study on West Amazon Drive between Snell Street and Fox Hollow, results are below. As a reminder, to qualify for traffic calming a street must meet all three of the listed criteria. 

1. More than 50% of vehicles are traveling at or above the speed limit (30 mph)
   1. Criteria met: The 50th percentile speed was 30.4 mph
2. The 85th percentile speed is at least 5 miles per hour over the speed limits (30 mph)
   1. Criteria met: The 85th percentile speed was 35.9 mph
3. Average daily traffic (ADT) volume is at least 600
   1. Criteria met: ADT was 1963

Based on the speed study, West Amazon Drive between Snell Street and Fox Hollow qualifies for traffic calming and has been added to our list of qualified streets. This list is reviewed annually as we program our limited traffic calming funds. We consider speed study results, closeness to community destinations (parks and schools), as well as other factors when programming funds. I unfortunately do not have an estimate of when West Amazon Drive between Snell Street and Fox Hollow will receive traffic calming. Traffic calming funds are currently programmed out through 2025.

I realize it may be disappointing to learn that while West Amazon Drive between Snell Street and Fox Hollow qualifies for traffic calming, actual speed humps or speed cushions may still be years away. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any additional questions about the speed study or the traffic calming program.

LTD: LTD continues to monitor ridership this year on our south Eugene bus routes, in order to inform future decisions about routes and services. We encourage everyone to ride the bus when ever possible! Transportation Committee member Linda Duggan will apply for the LTD ad hoc committee for community engagement. We have reached out to our LTD Board rep Heather Murphy in order to learn more about a possible mobility-on-demand project we’ve heard about for our region. 

Environmental Stewardship Committee – June 2023 Report 

The Environmental Stewardship Committee (ESC) has met on the third Tuesday of each month at 10am at Hideaway Bakery. The meeting was held on June 20th and 4 people were in attendance. 

****PLEASE NOTE: Future meetings (starting in July 2023) will be held on the third THURSDAY of each month at 10 am at Hideaway Bakery**** 

We discussed: 

• Legislative Update for Environmental Issues tracked by the SEN-ESC 
  • Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act: web page 

The Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act will update Oregon’s outdated recycling system by building on local community programs and leveraging the resources of producers to create an innovative system that works for everyone. The Oregon legislature passed the Recycling Modernization Act (Senate Bill 582) during the 2021 legislative session. The new law became effective Jan. 1, 2022 and recycling program changes will start in July 2025. 

About the new law 

This system-wide update will make recycling easier for the public to use, expand access to recycling services, upgrade the facilities that sort recyclables, and create environmental benefits while reducing social and environmental harms, such as plastic pollution. Producers and manufacturers of packaged items, paper products and food serviceware will pay for many of these necessary improvements and help ensure recycling is successful in Oregon. 

Implementation 

The start-up phase will span multiple years with extensive planning, research, rulemaking and engagement with interested parties. DEQ will keep people informed and seek input through several different channels throughout that time. 

DEQ Rulemaking 

DEQ is proposing rules to clarify and implement the Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act of 2021. The Act requires producers of packaging, paper products and food service ware to support and expand recycling services in Oregon for their products. This is the first of two anticipated rulemakings related to the Act. For this first rulemaking, DEQ is proposing rules related to topics including producer responsibility program plan content; DEQ’s administrative fees; the funding and reimbursement of local governments for eligible recycling-related expenses; and the materials suitable for recycling collection in Oregon. Public comments and testimony are being accepted for two public hearings (6/27 & 6/29/2023) as well as via email and post mail prior to 7/6/2023 @ 4:00 pm. 

Second rulemaking process 2 

A new Rulemaking Advisory Committee will convene for its first meeting on July 13, 2023, launching the second rulemaking process for the RMA. The second rulemaking will run through the fall of 2024 and will address a variety of topics, including: 

• Living wages and supportive benefits for workers at commingled recycling processing facilities 
• Permitting and certification standards for commingled recycling processing facilities 
• Contamination Management Fee and Processor Commodity Risk Fee paid to recycling processors by producer responsibility organizations 
• Impact Reduction and Reuse Fee 
• Standards for life cycle impact evaluation and disclosure 
• Covered product exemptions 

SB 543 (Enrolled): (Prohibits food vendor from using polystyrene foam container in sales of prepared food) 

• Passed Senate 4/3/23; signed by Senate Pres. 4/27/23 
• Passed House 4/26/23; signed by Speaker 5/1/23 
• Governor signed 5/8/23 
• Effective Date: January 1, 2024 
• Becomes Operative: January 1, 2025 

SB 545 (Enrolled): (Directs Oregon Health Authority to adopt rules allowing restaurants to allow consumers to fill consumer owned container with food) 

• Passed Senate 3/15/23; signed by Senate Pres. 4/27/23 
• Passed House 4/26/23; signed by Speaker 5/1/23 
• Governor signed 5/8/23 
• Effective Date: May 8, 2023 
• OHA to adopt rules that take effect no later than June 30, 2024 

SB 544: (Directs Environmental Quality Commission to establish program for source reduction of single-use plastic food ware and single-use packaging and achieve 25 percent source reductions compared to 2023 levels by 2030) 

• Referred to Senate Energy and Environment then Joint Ways and Means 1/9/23 
• 2 Public Hearings held (2/14 & 2/16/23) 
• No meetings currently scheduled 

Adoption of standards regarding small non-road engines (such as Gas Powered Leaf Blowers): 

SB 525: (Directs Environmental Quality Commission to adopt standards prohibiting engine exhaust and evaporative emissions from new small non-road engines beginning January 1, 2026, unless a later date is required by federal Clean Air Act) 

• Referred to Senate Energy and Environment then Joint Ways and Means 1/14/23 
• Public Hearing held 3/23/23 o No meetings currently scheduled 

Status of Senate Bills SB544 and SB525

• We will reach out to Environment Oregon to find out the best way forward for these two bills. 

Change of ESC meeting date 

• We have changed the ESC meeting date from the 3rd Tuesday to the 3rd Thursday of each month. This will enable the ESC to receive a timely update from Devon Mann, who is a member of the City of Eugene Sustainability Commission, in regards to current and future happenings at the city level. 

Amazon Creek Tree Planting next steps 

• The city has given us the go-ahead to do weed and blackberry control around the trees that volunteers from the neighborhood, Obsidians, and ESC we planted in January and February along Amazon Creek (West Amazon between Hilyard and Snell Avenues). 

• The committee determined that we would work on getting volunteers together for a group work party sometime in the fall. 

• We will look for another long-term volunteer project along Amazon Creek with COE Parks & Open Space and will contact them to set up a meeting. 

Recycling options 

• Sanipac offers a “Recycle Plus” program that allows residents to recycle items like batteries, plastic containers (like yogurt and sour cream), plastic film, textiles and Styrofoam. https://www.sanipac.com/recyclingPlus/ 

• Apex does not offer this service, though they do pick up recycling and glass weekly. 

• EcoGeneration will also take plastic that is not recyclable through Apex or Sanipac, but there is a cost. https://www.ecogeneration.org/recycling-programs