PlanetCon: June 2019

 The 4th PlanetCon event was held on Saturday, June 1, 2019 at Century High School in Hillsboro, OR. In addition to recycling, there was a household item swap, and a hygiene product donation for those in need. In addition, information tables were available on a number of topics related to sustainable living and local resources.
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
  • City of Hillsboro for providing traffic cones and barriers for traffic control
  • Clyde from 350 Washington County for providing battery transportation to Metro Transfer Station 
  • Fred Meyers for accepting the plastic film 
  • Denton Plastics for accepting the rigid plastics and Mark for his plastic expertise
  • Agilyx for accepting the #6 expanded polystyrene foam (aka styrofoam) 
  • ​Computer Drive Connection in Cornelius for accepting the computers and electronics
  • The 70 volunteers who worked tirelessly throughout the event
  • Forest Grove Coffee Company for donating coffee for the volunteers
  • Trent Toney for providing wonderful music
  • La Vida Veggie restaurant for being there to sell their delicious vegan food 

Thanks to the organization representatives and community members who participated and spread the word.
At least 267 cars attended and dropped off recycling throughout the 3 hour event. Below is the collection summary. 
  • 90 cubic yards of polystyrene foam (styrofoam) were recycled at Agilyx in Tigard
  • 424 pounds of plastic bags & film were recycled for Trex Decking products
  • 950 pounds of household batteries 
  • 766 pounds of rigid plastics (#2, 4, 5) were collected for recycling at Denton plastics in east Portland
  • 4,220 pounds of electronics and small appliances, were collected and sent for reuse or recycling at Computer Drive Connection in Cornelius.
  • about 100 people enjoyed the household item swap. Items from the swap which were not picked up by the end of the event were donated to Goodwill.
  • 5 boxes of donated hygiene items were given to those in need through the Emergency Shelter Network.
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PlanetCon organizers
To receive notice of upcoming PlanetCon events you can join the PlanetCon email list to be directly notified via email.  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 events in your area.

 
Photos courtesy of Alex Erickson