Sisters recycling program is all mixed up

Residents are no longer required to sort their tin, plastic, paper, colored glass and clear glass into different compartments when recycling. As of last month they need only sort their glass from other recyclable items in a process termed "comingling."

According to Public Works Director Gary Frazee, Deschutes County ships the items to Portland where the paper, plastic and tin are then sorted using various levels of air pressure.

"It's easier and more efficient because nobody really sorted it anyway," said Frazee.

The change is but another chapter in the evolution of recycling in Sisters.

In the early 1990s, residents Peter and Joey White saw a need for a recycling program in Sisters.

A camping trailer was donated and converted into a collection site for cardboard and plastic. It was parked on the street, where residents could deposit their materials free of charge. Once a month, the Whites drove the trailer to a larger collection site at the Deschutes County Landfill on Fryrear Road.

Work was done by hand as the Whites hauled out month old milk containers and cardboard.

As the popularity of recycling grew, the periods between dumping the trailer lessened. The Whites, who graciously donated their time, found that the emerging pattern was not working in their favor.

The City of Sisters took on the program, creating a system to collect commercial cardboard as well. The City built 4-foot-by-4-foot-by-5-foot boxes out of plywood, which were left at businesses and schools.

At one time they had up to 50 boxes and spent two to three hours a day transferring the cardboard to a large compactor. Using a converted backhoe, boxes were driven through the streets of Sisters to the deposit center.

The road to the high school was in such poor condition, says Gary Frazee, Public Works Director, that the boxes would at times be bounced off the backhoe, spilling across the road. The makeshift boxes were beginning to fall apart, and as Frazee puts it, "We were literally wearing out the backhoe."

About this time the Forest Service stopped servicing garbage at the campgrounds. They donated 30 green 1.5-yard dumpsters to Sisters which replaced the plywood containers. The backhoe was replaced by a pickup truck with a lift gate on the back. A year and a half ago, the city purchased a 1977 dump truck, making the process faster and easier.

A program that started with a donated trailer and the hard work of volunteers has turned into a number of valued programs in the City of Sisters.

Today residents can deposit tin, plastic, glass, paper products and even motor oil at the collection site on the corner of Washington and Ash, which is the only collection site for Motor Oil in Central Oregon besides Knot Landfill.

Once a month the city picks up yard debris along scheduled garbage routes, free of charge, to discourage burning. This past Christmas, the city picked up 192 trees within the city during their annual Christmas Tree collection.

"We're just trying to do our part to protect the earth," said Frazee.