Oregonians sending less to landfills in economic downturn (the concept of throughput illustrated)

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A tipper dumps thousands of pounds of urban garbage at Columbia Ridge Landfill near Arlington, in eastern Gilliam County. Oregon landfills saw 16 percent less trash than at the same time in 2007 -- reversing a decade-long pattern of steady growth in garbage disposal.
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A funny thing happened on the way to financial collapse: Oregon landfills started receiving less and less garbage. It's not because people are recycling feverishly or because new strict regulations have clamped down. It's because there's less garbage -- likely the result of slowdowns in consumer spending, consumption and manufacturing.

As people worldwide celebrate Earth Day today, the curious green side of the economic downturn shows itself in strange ways. While a recession is no cure for global warming, it's not unlike the person who catches the flu and, in a few days, loses weight -- only to discover that's no way to diet.

Oregon and federal regulators are seeing an environmental difference as the Northwest and the country struggle to regain financial footing. The state's Department of Environmental Quality reports that in the final quarter of 2008, Oregon landfills saw 16 percent less trash than at the same time in 2007 -- reversing a decade-long pattern of steady growth in garbage disposal.

And yet there's a big downside. Cash-strapped factories delay the installation of new, environment-friendly equipment, instead holding onto relic smokestacks. And consumers who might have purchased a fuel-efficient vehicle are holding off, in some cases driving cars that pollute.

Robert Stavins, a Harvard economist, says the financial strain has buckled the nation's political will to meet President Barack Obama's promise for a program to limit carbon emissions -- the principal cause of global warming. Forcing industries to cap emissions or trade credits for spewing them is too expensive right now, industries say. So the really hard choice -- to cap and trade -- goes by the wayside. So what is to be learned on this Earth Day about links between the economy and environment? If you start with a look at Oregon's landfills, quite a lot.

Landfills are the last destination in a process of industrial creation: newly minted toys and furniture at the end of useful life, and the wrappings of so many foodstuffs as well as thrown-out food. Oregon's landfills -- one of them, the mammoth Arlington, serving the Northwest -- have seen steady growth of about 2 percent a year since the early '90s, when data was first collected.

But there were dips along the way: the 1997 Asian economic crisis, the 2001 recession. Nothing, however, matches the current recession. "It really seems to go off the cliff at the end of the year, which is what happened to employment numbers and mutual fund values and housing starts," says David Allaway, senior policy analyst for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. "In the last recession, it wasn't this steep."

Air quality is tougher to track, but it will likely be better if it isn't already. Most air data take months, even a year, to collect and analyze. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Oregon's DEQ have data through 2007, before the recession took hold. And often, air improvements are only measurable as economic trends months after the data are in.

But economists agree that air quality is improving in the current recession. Less driving alone means cleaner skies. "Absolutely," says Portland economist Joe Cortright. "Is it any kind of policy for addressing environmental problems? Probably not."

Carbon dioxide emissions from U.S. power plants, meanwhile, dropped 3.1 percent in 2008, breaking with a trend of steady growth in prior years, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Integrity Project. The nonprofit group, which looked at preliminary EPA data limited to power plants, said mild weather -- and recession -- combined to lower demand for electricity.

More: http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/04/oregonians_sending_less_to_lan.html