pete inevitably with recyclers for the same investment capital and feedstocks (highgrade paper, newsprint, cardboard, dimension lumber, firewood, compostable organics, clothing, furniture).'' As a recycler, Knapp sees incineration as an unproven technology, asking, "Where are the garbage-to-energy plants that work without degrading, contaminating, or destroying valuable resources, creating toxic byproducts, or requiring vast and open-ended extensions of credit? . . . Why the rush to turn materials into energy when we are entering a period of scarcity of materials?" (From Resource Recovery: What Recycling Can Do, to be published by the Governor's Office of Appropriate Technology, State of California, as part of their Occasional Paper series.) Garbage-to-energy strategies are being pushed before the more appropriate technologies of reduction, reuse, and recycling of wastes have been given a chance to prove themselves. Burning garbage for energy, in fact, can curtail further efforts to implement more effective solid waste practices and actually reduce incentives to decrease solid waste, because the garbage burner requires a guaranteed supply of waste. Strong local opposition by the people of Oregon City to the garbage-to-en- ergy facility coupled with rising costs may prevent its ever being built, but even with full scale waste reduction efforts and a garbage burner, Portland's garbage will also have to be sent to landfills. There are currently two general purpose landfills operating in the region: Rossman's in Oregon City and St. John's in North Portland. Both of these are expected to reach capacity in the 1980s. The development of the Oregon City burner or the establishment of a distant mixed waste landfill (which will probably be sited 17 miles north of Portland in the northwest across from Sauvie's Island), will require the construction of waste transfer stations. These transfer stations will be enclosed facilities where garbage haulers and private citizens can dispose of their garbage which is then transferred in larger trucks to a landfill or garbage burner. The transfer stations will also allow for on-site recycling facilities. Many wastes requiring disposal represent valuable resources. By removing reusables from the waste stream, the amount that goes into the landfill is decreased. Collection and disposal costs are reduced. By recycling, valuable natural resources are turned back to production, reducing the quantity of virgin resources mined, pumped, or cut. Non-renewable resources will last longer, and less energy will be spent in the mining and processing of virgin materials. Metro estimates that as much as 30 percent of an individual's garbage can be recycled. The most common recyclable materials include glass, newspaper, cardboard, tin cans, motor oil, and aluminum. Portland's materials recovery programs (see Resources) are nationally recognized. Portland is cited in both the 1979 and 1980 Environmental Protection Agency surveys of recycling programs around the country. The EPA studies point to Portland's general public awareness about recycling. The Oregon bottle bill has gone a long way in raising consciousness about recycling. Portland is already where many urban areas dream of being. j A number of firms have long been established in the Portland area which 64 Ancil Nance
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