PORTLAND, Ore. -- After weeks of not being able to, people in the Portland area can once again recycle their styrofoam.
But some may have to travel a ways to do it.
In May, Far West Recycling, the only company in the Portland area that recycled Styrofoam, stopped accepting it.
President and CEO Keith Ristau said, at the time, there was no market for it. Since then the market picked back up, and so Ristau started accepting the styrofoam again.
But during the three month hiatus, he had to move his styrofoam compacting machine out to the Hillsboro location.
Now he says, it's cost prohibitive to haul the styrofoam from the east Portland drop off sites to Hillsboro.
"The freight cost to get from the east side of town over to here is about $300 per ton," said Ristau.
So currently, the only locations accepting sytrofoam are the Beaverton and Hillsboro drop-offs. A change that does not sit well with some on the east side.
" I probably wouldn't make the trip all the way out there just to drop off styrofoam... it is a long way," said Deanna Holland, who lives in Southeast Portland.
Top local stories:
Keep up with the latest news in Portland and beyond. Tap to get our free KGW News app!
