Located in the heart of Central Oregon, between the towering Cascade Mountain Range to the west and the high desert plateau to the east, Deschutes County is the outdoor recreation capital of Oregon. The county encompasses 3,055 square miles of scenic beauty, mild climate, diverse recreational opportunities and a growing economy. From humble beginnings, Deschutes County now experiences the most rapid population growth of any county in Oregon. It has developed into a bustling, exciting destination where progress, growth and unique beauty intertwine.The Solid Waste Department is currently implementing the Solid Waste Management adopted in 2019 to significantly expand the infrastructure and programs for the diversion of recyclable, compostable, and recoverable materials from the expanding waste stream brought on with the areas rapid growth, while also responsibly managing the disposable wastes that remain. It is an exciting time to be working on these issues in this County.

Recycle Ann Arbor's mission is to develop and operate innovative reuse, recycling, and zero-waste programs that improve the environmental quality of our community.

Our programs are designed to help individuals, organizations, and communities understand the significance of zero waste and to provide the resources and education needed to achieve their own zero-waste goals. Our services and policy work present real world solutions to the social, environmental, and health problems caused by wasting.Zero waste has even been shown to be one of the fastest, least expensive, and most impactful strategies available for combating climate change.There is no waste in nature. In nature the by-product of one part of a system is a resource for another part of the system. Similarly, in a zero-waste community, the products we produce are designed to be durable so they can be repaired, upgraded and reused as long as possible before becoming obsolete. We look for ways to reduce the packaging that our items come in to minimize the left over material that remains after the product has been consumed or is no longer usable. We make the need to reuse, recycle or compost a product at the end of its life as important a factor in product design as aesthetics, reliability, cost and marketability.Eureka operates large scale recycling programs and operations to demonstrate the benefits to our communities, our environment, and our local and global economies of a zero waste approach. Employing over 100 people and an operating budget of over $20 million per year, Eureka can speak to the challenges and benefits from a truly authentic place as we educate our communities and inform policies on the local, state and national level

MRWMD is responsible for operating all of the recycling, composting, reuse, solid waste disposal and processing infrastructure as well as the Household Hazardous Waste collection services for the greater Monterey Peninsula region. These operations include a Materials Recovery Facility that processes residential and commercial recyclables as well as Construction and Demolition waste recovery, the Last Chance Mercantile Reuse Store, Wood-waste processing, Composting for yard-wastes and food-wastes, and a landfill for waste disposal. MRWMD's facility is unique in the country to have all aspects of discard management to be occurring at one site, enabling us to see all of the streams of materials at once and to tailor our public education programs to impact the area communities' awareness and change behaviors.