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The CART’M project addresses an issue - solid waste and a concern for the health of the environment - that has meaning and value for all constituents of the rural north Tillamook County community: residents, tourists, businesses and public institutions, alike. During the flood of 1996, it became clear how quickly we can become physically isolated and how critical it is to develop truly local resources.
The group’s makeup and its history make it possible to deal with these concerns in a grassroots way that has support rather than direction from the government jurisdictions affected. Its independence means it can address the issue creatively and comprehensively, across traditional boundaries, both jurisdictional and physical.
The citizens of the North Tillamook County area have expressed their support through financial contributions and volunteer efforts, both at the center and in planning for future developments. They show their support as well through their ever-increasing willingness to recycle. They are proud of this citizen based effort to address a problem many see as affecting the quality of life and economics in the region.
CART’M seeks to handle the solid waste generated in the area as locally as possible so that as a community we are taking responsibility for what we produce and how we deal with it - and therefore can work more conscientiously to reduce those wastes. The solutions we are demonstrating aim to answer questions such as:
In the long term, the project seeks to turn those wastes into a sustainable resource that mines the “by-products” of one household or business to become the raw materials of another. This will create new business opportunities in the community and provide economic savings for all:
The list of these items will grow as recycled products and markets expand regionally and locally. It is not intended that these stay CART’M projects, but that they will be spun off as separate businesses for further economic development in the area.
The process of creating community consensus for this project has already generated strong feelings of accomplishment and goodwill that will increase as the expansion of the current center becomes a reality. It taps deeply into people’s need to DO SOMETHING POSITIVE about the perceived ills of the earth in their own neighborhoods. This has already had spin-off effects in other problem areas of the community and will likely spread as an example to other rural communities in the state and beyond.
Some organizations are already creating really neat products from recycled resources. One great example is Aurora Glass. The Aurora Glass foundry is owned and operated by St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County, Inc., a charitable non-profit organization. The foundry is part of SVdP’s strategic recycling initiative for a healthier community. All profits from Aurora Glass assist homeless and low-income people through emergency services, housing, jobs, training, and other charitable endeavors.
The CART’M Recycling Center was started by a citizen committee of the City of Manzanita in 1991 as a basic recycling collection depot on a lot across from the Fire Station. Run solely by volunteers for the next 8 years, it was only open two days a week (Tuesdays and Sundays, 11-1). At first only newspaper, tin and glass were accepted and it took almost a year to fill up one small semi-trailer with newspaper. As other categories were added use increased so that the newspaper trailer needed to be hauled 5 times a year and the cardboard trailer was filled at least every month.
The center was a cooperative effort needing very few funds. Tillamook County donated a shed. Volunteers built and maintained a loading platform. The City covered the center under its insurance and took care of any trash. The community contributed returnable cans and bottles as well as cash to the donation jar for incidental expenses. For most of those years, Averill Recycling in Tillamook left semi-trailers on site in exchange for the income generated from the sale of the materials.
In 1991, the League of Oregon Cities awarded Manzanita a First Place Cities for Excellence Award (for cities 1-999) for its “Exceptional CART’M Recycling Program.”
In the Spring of 1996, the CART’M Steering Committee began to envision expanding the program. Awareness of recycling had grown in the community and requests for new services were mounting.
Environmentally conscious building contractors were asking for better ways of dealing with wood debris, dry wall and other materials which they tend to just burn. They also wanted to make available items such as cabinets, paneling and flooring coming out of cabins they were tearing down to make way for new homes on beach front properties. Landscapers wanted places to take yard wastes. The recycling public, upset about the amount of usable materials going into the dumpsters at the transfer station, saw the need for a local and convenient way of passing on usable items in between times of fundraising rummage sales.
However, accepting additional materials was impossible on the site in the middle of town which had become increasingly crowded during the brief hours it was open for even the materials already taken. In addition, the City of Manzanita was beginning to have other uses in mind for the site and began putting pressure on CART’M to move.
In the process of exploring these issues and the option of sharing the county-owned site at the Manzanita Transfer Station, an additional problem and opportunity came to light. The community had not been happy in recent years with the operation of the Manzanita Transfer Station itself. Owned by Tillamook County and managed by City Sanitary of Tillamook, the facility was only open one day a week for five hours - Saturdays from 10-3. These inconvenient hours, coupled with what seemed like high fees meant that many drove the 25 miles north to Seaside or south to Tillamook to dispose of their wastes. Those who could not be bothered to travel or pay on Saturday, burned debris or simply dumped it in the forests. Burning has always been a particular problem among contractors whose pressured treated wood, asphalt shingles and other materials off-gas serious toxins and pollutants.
It became obvious that a solution that addressed all of these issues could not continue to be handled solely by volunteers on a borrowed site.
In the summer of 1996, CART’M wrote a grant to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality for $11,000 to fund a half-time coordinator for 10 months to create a plan for an expanded program and to coordinate an education and consensus building process in the North County community. Since DEQ only funds government organizations, the grant was sponsored and administered by the City of Manzanita and co-sponsored by Tillamook County Public Works Department.
DEQ awarded the grant to the CART’M project in December, 1996. Lane deMoll, a CART’M founder and member of the Steering Committee, was hired as Recycling Coordinator. The Steering Committee immediately began to work on design and program concepts. In addition, a Construction Debris Task Force of building professionals began to plan that aspect of the project.
In January, 1997, Lee and Doug Walker of City Sanitary agreed to CART’M taking over management of the transfer station. The travel distance for their employees and low use numbers (from high fees and inconvenient hours) made the transfer station operating on its own unprofitable for them. City Sanitary was extremely helpful during the transition period and are still paid to haul the 40 yard trash dumpsters to the Tillamook Transfer Station several times a week. (From there, the trash goes to the Coffin Butte Landfill).
The Preliminary Business Plan was completed in April, 1997, based on funding the capital investment of the project through private and public grants and local support, while working towards being self-supporting after the first year of operation via transfer station tipping fees, sale of recyclable materials and resale of usable items.
Jon Oshel (Solid Waste Administrator and Public Works Director for Tillamook County), the Solid Waste Advisory Committee, and the County Commissioners agreed to provide a building for CART’M to process recyclable materials on the transfer station site. They budgeted $50,000 (FY 97-98) for its construction, contingent on CART’M raising the additional funds necessary for the entire project. The County also provided considerable in-kind staff support for the development of the project, including $500 towards the cost of a consulting visit from Dan Knapp and Mary Lou Van Deventer of Urban Ore, innovative recycling design specialists from Berkeley, California.
In May, 1997, CART’M became a non-profit corporation with volunteer assistance from local attorney, Joel Sacks, in order to establish clear independence from the City of Manzanita and more fully represent the entire north county area. 501(C)3 tax-exemption status was applied for and granted in August, 1997, so that serious fundraising could begin. The first CART’M Board Members were Kathleen Ryan (Chair), Lola Sorensen, Susan Walsh, Greg Movsesyan, Barbara Rippey, Byron Melton, Barry Marshall and Lane deMoll.
An educational and outreach effort to create community consensus for the new program was going on during this period. Local newspaper coverage was excellent, including front page articles by Daily Astorian, North Coast Citizen and Tillamook Headlight Herald. Presentations were made to the Manza-Whee-Lem Kiwanis, the Manzanita & Nehalem City Councils and to the staff of the City of Wheeler, as well as Pine Grove Community Club and the Women’s Club. In addition, Lane became the advisor of the Recycle Corps at Neah-Kah-Nie High School which created the first step of a comprehensive program for that school.
Two free public workshops were held. One in January, 1997 drew 30 community and business leaders and government officials from three counties (including Pacific County in Washington) to hear a presentation on resale and reuse from Urban Ore in Berkeley, California. The second workshop, organized by the Construction Debris Task Force, brought together 10 building professionals on a Saturday morning in June to hear “green” builder, Bill Hawley from Earthwise Builders in Portland.
Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) provided the initial planning funds - $11,000 that paid for Lane deMoll’s 20 hours a week.
When funds ran out after a year, local community funds kept the planning effort going. The Cities of Manzanita and Nehalem each gave $1000 - a show of local support that was vital to match outside funds being requested. Over $4,300 was raised over 18 months from direct mail letters as well as contributions on site - both cash and returnable cans and bottles.
In January, 1998 the grant application process began to bear fruit.
Donations for Building and Equipment from through June, 1999 totaled $254,787 from the following:
Throughout this time the CART’M Board worked on Program and facility design with the volunteer assistance of Doug Drennen, a Portland-based solid waste engineer (who has a vacation home in Manzanita), and other design and recycling professionals. Joe Cawley from Neighborhood Recycling Center in Portland came down one weekend to help with design ideas. John Rippey, founder of the Cannon Beach Recycle Center began attending meetings and was soon hired 1/4 time to finalize equipment needs for the plan. His input increased to half time as the Facilities Manager when the Center opened.
A Conditional Use application was presented to the Manzanita Planning Commission which was approved at its September 1997 meeting. Then things got stalled during the winter by an appeal by adjacent property owners who had hoped the dump would go away, not get more lively. Luckily, the ruling in our favor was upheld by the City Council and not appealed.
CART’M was then able finalize the design for the new facility and prepare bid documents. Site grading began in April, paid for with Oregon Lottery Funds through the NW Oregon Economic Alliance (NOEA). Trees planted as a landscaping screen were paid for as part of a Collins Foundation grant.
However a second serious delay occurred because construction bids through the Tillamook County Public Works process came in $50,000 over budget twice despite considerable revisions. Finally, in June, 1998, the County Commissioners okayed the division of the project so that CART’M could contract for the erection of the building ourselves.
Construction began in July and was completed within budget by Bob DuMoulin Construction. Tillamook County provided funds for the purchase of the materials for the metal building and NOEA paid for pouring the foundation. The Manzanita Fire Department volunteered to spray for fill compaction and to cure the foundation. Meyer Memorial funds covered the erection of the building, installation of electricity, insurance so the whole thing could be worked on, and construction administration.
Building the Center cost us a total of $254,787
Construction Expenses totaled $171,116:
Equipment Expenses totaled $83,671:
On September 9, 1998, CART’M took the first step towards integrating the community’s solid waste programming when we became the franchiser for the operation of the Manzanita Transfer Station. Operating expenses for three months were covered by a $7,000 grant from NOEA.
Ron Hintz was hired to run it, declaring himself “Chief Garbologist.” He had worked as a volunteer all summer with the previous franchiser to learn the ropes. During the fall, staff and volunteers hauled recyclables from that site down to our old center, while our contractor worked on getting the building completed.
Equipment was ordered and installed. The forklift was donated by NCCO Hyster. A great story: CART’M Board member, Vivi Tallman was working for local CPA Diane Gibson whose daughter, Jennifer Overbay worked for NCCO Hyster. They donate used prototypes from their R & D program to worthy causes. Tools and equipment were also donated through the resale store - radial arm saw, power drill, weed eater, shop vacuum, wheelbarrows and the like.
The building reached substantial completion in mid-November - the last pieces of the roof going on the day before the first big wind storm.
Carpenters gave a total of at least $3700 worth of services (117 hours) to get us moved in.
A work party was held the weekend of November 21 and 22, 1999 (during a howling gale) at which local carpenters volunteered in teams to frame in the office, storage loft, and future bathroom area.
In subsequent weeks volunteers also completed a protective skirting wall around the interior at one end of the building where bales of material would be stored, and constructed the first storage and display racks for the reusable doors and wood that had begun to be rescued from the dump.
On December 3, we were able to officially open the new center and inaugurate our expanded hours: Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, 10 - 4. The Resale Store opened two weeks later in the west third of the building with donated shelving and tables made out of doors and sawhorses. Completion of the office took a little longer as the holidays interfered with volunteers’ ability to insulate, sheet rock and paint.
During those weeks much time went into setting up new systems, training volunteers and orienting customers. As we moved and shuffled in response to processing the amazing amount of material pouring in for trash, recycling and reuse, we joked that each system was there “temporarily.” In-house calligrapher John Rippey created signs, while Ron Hintz invented equipment. We began to realize that if we wanted a tool or a part, we had only to say we needed it and it would arrive - a byword became: “One will come in.”
The balance of the first year’s $143,500 operating budget came from operating revenues - the transfer station fees, sales of recyclable materials, and sales in the resale store.
“The response to our new program has been incredible. People are very excited about what we have all accomplished together. Volume of traffic and materials have exceeded our estimates. We are averaging 25-35 vehicles on weekdays and 80-90 on Saturdays. The strategy of more hours seems to be working.
“Volumes of materials is also increasing. The previous franchise operator for the transfer station hauled a 40 yard trash drop box once a month in the winter. We have been having them hauled once a week and one memorable weekend actually filled two. Much of this increase seems to come from contractors who are finding the new hours more convenient. Our charging rate is mandated by the County at $20 a cubic yard or $5 a garbage can rather than by weight, but we have learned to judge the sizes of loads well. Our ratio of revenues to our tipping costs by weight in Tillamook are staying well below the 40% rate indicated as necessary by the previous franchiser.
“And we are helping people reduce their personal costs by pulling more materials out of their loads for recycling and reuse. A number of people have told us that they are canceling their garbage pick-up since they can now make a one-stop trip with recyclables and garbage for less money. Plus, as one resident put it, ' I want to keep checking in here. It’s so much fun to see what’s happening.’ Another said, ‘We now make this a weekly family outing.’
“The Resale Store is booming. We made $100 a week the first couple of weeks. Now we are making well over $100 most days and just last weekend hit the $3000 mark in the store since we opened. Stuff is coming in and going back out - furniture, household goods, books, building supplies, wood stoves, hardware, and even a kitchen sink and counter. One couple comes down almost every weekend from Gearhart in Clatsop County to shop saying, “This makes a nice outing.”
“We pull good things out of loads destined for the dump - sometimes they still have price tags on them. Ron, our Head Garbologist, delights in repairing broken appliances and toys and making them available. Other items, like some old oak chairs that we rescued, are selling as fix-it projects. People have also begun to bring us good items for the store.
“Recycle collection rates continue to rise. We have collected twice the amount of cardboard in the three months since we opened as we did in the previous three months at the old center. We have 24 bales piled against the wall - halfway to being able to sell our first load. We had a contest over several weeks to estimate the weight of our first bale. A local woman guessed within 3 pounds of the 1123 lbs and won a $50 gift certificate to our resale store. Other materials are piling up more slowly so we do not have definite figures yet. However, there is a steady stream of people at our doors and as predicted more people who were just coming to the dump are taking advantage of the recycling opportunities.
“Volunteer energy continues to build. We have gone from 50 to over 70 volunteers who have regular monthly shifts, giving 20-30 hours a week total . We have a crew who help out sorting and pricing in the resale store and we are recruiting a similar group to help with construction materials. We have a high school student who receives community service credit for volunteering two afternoons a week and we had a Bennington College intern who worked over 236 hours for us during January and February. The Garden Club has just offered to do some landscaping for us.”