Bottle Bill expansion in 2007 = Local green jobs in 2010

The community of St Helens. Oregon will gain 50 stable family-wage jobs next year when the construction of a plastic-bottle recycling plant is completed. Those jobs can be linked to the work OLCV and the Oregon Conservation Network did in the 2007 Legislative Session to expand Oregon's landmark bottle bill to include bottled water.

In the 2009 Legislative session, OLCV and OCN worked for further expansion of the bottle bill, championed by Rep. Ben Cannon (D-Portland) and Senator Jackie Dingfelder (D-Portland). That expansion, which died in the House, would have incorporated almost all beverages into the bottle bill, creating the opportunity for even more family-wage recycling jobs.

Not only will the St. Helens jobs be green, the recycling facility will also be green, incorporating recycled building materials and solar panels plus features to harvest rainwater and conserve energy.

Read more in The Oregonian.