Green News

Oregon Lottery does good things

I’ve posted before about how the Oregon Lottery Does Good Things.  Well, in addition to funding that has made Oregon the largest solar manufacturer in the country, it is now helping Agri-plas, a recycling company based in Brooks, Oregon.  Agri-plas recycles agricultural plastics such as nursery pots and trays, ground cover, seed sacks, plastic binder twine, triple-rinsed pesticide containers and greenhouse film.

All these products can be re-made into usable materials like Trex (plastic-based lumber for decks and more), polyfil fiber for insulating sleeping bags and outdoor wear, and even railroad ties.  This type of RRR is truly good for the planet!

But, truly, the most amazing thing that the Oregon Lottery is doing, along with Agri-Plas, is providing resources so that hard-to-recycle agricultural plastics can be converted into crude oil.  According to a Fast Company blog post:

“The company recently delivered its first full, 8,200 gallon tanker of oil to a refinery in Washington. That’s 196 barrels of oil derived from greenhouse cover, dirty agricultural film, soda bottles, prepackaged food containers, and other low-value plastics.”

Keep plastics out of landfills by recycling

That’s right:  petroleum to petroleum.  Quite simply, plastics are made from fossil fuels, so why not convert them right back into their original state (or close to it) to power our vehicles?  This is the ultimate in recycling.

And, it also creates green jobs.  By the end of this calendar year, Agri-plas plans on adding 58 new jobs at its Brooks, Oregon headquarters.  These new workers will also be needed to help convert those plastic agricultural goods that don’t end up in our fuel tank.  The simple act of recycling the agricultural plastics is eco-friendly:

Recycling one ton of plastics saves the equivalent of 1,500 gallons of gasoline.

If you want to help the Oregon Lottery do good things, then why not take your agricultural plastic to one of several drop-off locations for Agri-Plas in the Salem and Portland areas.