The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality's (DEQ) Materials Management program has awarded $600,000 in grant funding to 16 local governments, schools, and nonprofits. This was the most competitive application process in the grant program’s history with 59 applicants requesting over $3.4 million. The funding covers projects that reduce material use, reuse materials, and recover wastes through recycling.
Marion County was awarded a grant of $76,685 to further efforts to prevent wasted food. Curbing wasted food is one of DEQ’s top priorities. Twenty-five to 40 percent of all food produced or imported for consumption in the United States is never eaten. This production of uneaten food creates substantial environmental impacts and is a significant—and unnecessary—contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
"Marion County is thrilled to have the opportunity to reduce wasted milk and single-use items like cartons, utensils, and trays in schools. This grant will allow us to install milk dispensers in up to 15 schools which we anticipate will annually prevent over half a million cartons from being wasted and avoid the wasting of over 75,000 gallons of milk," commented Bailey Payne, a waste reduction coordinator.
Other local organizations that received funding include Garten Services which received $82,242 to purchase a baler and the Habitat for Humanity of the Mid-Willamette Valley ReStore which will get $50,000 to purchase a truck to pick up building materials.
