PlanetCon: January 2020

The 5th PlanetCon event was held on Saturday, January 11, 2020 at Quatama Elementary School in Hillsboro, OR. In addition to recycling, there was a free holiday décor swap and a repair fair. Donations were taken for bicycles, warm winter clothing, and personal hygiene products for those in need. In addition, information tables were available on a number of topics related to sustainable living and local resources. There was a PlanetCon Challenge to help motivate attendees to visit these information tables and possibly win prizes. Two PlanetCon Power talks were held to educate the public on sustainability topics.

Congratulations to the PlanetCon Challenge Winners from our 01/11/20 PlanetCon event!

• Isis K. won a pass to Oregon State Parks and resolves to start using the free resources at the library.
• Life S. won a tuneup from WashCo bikes and resolves to bike-ride to school more.
• Tracy won a trip from Tualatin Riverkeepers and resolves to make an 'Eat this first' section in the fridge to help reduce food waste.

A total of 30 people completed the PlanetCon challenge. The most common pledge was to reduce single use containers and packaged food. The next most common was to reduce food waste. Other challenges ranged from buying an electric vehicle to taking advantage of the free services at the library.  Good luck to everyone in their 2020 journey to reduce waste and help the earth!

​Many Thanks to the groups that helped this event happen:

• Washington County Solid Waste & Recycling for funding the plastic recycling transportation, food for volunteers,  event signage and other resources. A very special thanks to Heather and other personnel for their time and expertise.
• Hillsboro School District for providing the venue, and teacher Sheila for her enthusiastic support.
• City of Hillsboro for providing traffic cones and barriers for traffic control
• Winco for accepting the plastic film 
• Denton Plastics for accepting the rigid plastics and Mark for his plastic expertise
• Agilyx for accepting the #6 rigid and expanded polystyrene foam (aka styrofoam) 
• ​Computer Drive Connection in Cornelius for accepting the computers and electronics
• The nearly 100 volunteers who worked tirelessly throughout the event
• The Human Bean in Cornelius for donating coffee for the volunteers
• Local musician Derek Reynolds for providing wonderful ukelele music
• Cafe de Crepe food truck vendor​​ for selling their delicious crepes

Thanks to the organization representatives and community members who participated and spread the word.

• Representative Janeen Sollman (House District 30), Celeste Meiffren-Swango (Environment Oregon), Debby Garman (350PDX Washington County) for their panel discussion on Environmental Legislative Action
• Jennifer Nelson-Sneed (Washington County Sustainability) for her talk on The Problem with Plastics

• 350PDX Washington County
• Recycling Advocates
• Repair Fair
• Shake and fold – Sacude y dobla
• Washington County Solid Waste & Recycling
• City of Hillsboro Sustainability
• City of Beaverton Food Scraps program
• Tualatin Soil and Water Conservation District
• Washington County Family Shelter Network
• Green Living Journal
• Hillsboro Food Co-op
• Quatama Elementary Green Team
• Eco Schools Network
• WashCo Bikes
• The Nature Conservancy​
• Master Gardeners of Washington County
• Audubon Society of Portland
• National Wildlife Federation of Oregon
• Adelante Mujeres Sustainable Agriculture Program
• GoBox Portland
• Imperfect Foods
• New Seasons Market Orenco Station​
• Master Recyclers​

At least 439 cars attended and dropped off recycling items throughout the 3 hour event. Below is the collection summary. 

• 2,000 pounds of expanded polystyrene foam (styrofoam) were recycled at Agilyx in Tigard
• 727 pounds of plastic bags & film were taken to Winco for recycling for Trex Decking products
• 1,820 pounds of household batteries were accepted from 323 households and taken to Metro Hazardous Waste for recycling
• 2,820 pounds of rigid plastics (#2, 4, 5) were collected for recycling at Denton plastics in east Portland
• 8,350 pounds of electronics and small appliances, were collected and sent for reuse or recycling at Computer Drive Connection in Cornelius.
• Over 84 people enjoyed the holiday décor swap. Items from the swap which were not picked up by the end of the event were donated to Goodwill.
• 52 bicycles were donated to WashCo Bikes in Hillsboro, a non-profit that repairs bikes and runs an Adopt-A-Bike program.
• Several boxes and bags of donated hygiene items were given to those in need through the Emergency Shelter Network.
• 23 bags of warm clothing were donated to Family Promise of Beaverton and 2 other local shelters to distribute to those in need.

PlanetCon organizers

To receive notice of upcoming PlanetCon events you can join the PlanetCon email list to be directly notified via email, or follow us on Facebook or Instagram .  You can also download the free application Garbage and Recycling Day on your smartphone.  This app helps you to know what to recycle and where and can also notify you of recycling and reuse events in your area.

 
Photos courtesy of photographers Susan Statler, Amy Van Schijndel, and other volunteers 

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