News Release from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation:
MISSION – The US Environmental Protection Agency is giving the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) more than $900,000 to update and overhaul their recycling program.
According to the EPA, CTUIR’s Tribal Environmental Recovery Facility (TERF) will receive a $915,895 grant early next year to focus on practical and culturally sensitive recycling options, replace and upgrade equipment recycling and expanding markets for recycled commodities through educating tribal users and recycled materials. management.
“We are very excited to receive the EPA Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling grant and the opportunities it will bring to our program and community,” said TERF Manager Ashley Picard. “We will work with a consultant to update our Conservation and Recycling Plan to align with the needs of our community.”
Picard said inadequate equipment and understaffing have forced TERF to not offer curbside recycling services and limited its commercial and on-site options. He said the grant would allow TERF to meet those needs.
“We are delighted to be able to acquire two new trucks, one of which will be an automated kerbside collection truck, a new backhoe and an electric forklift which will be used to prepare recyclables for transport, containers of recycling, a used oil heater. that will be used to heat our recycling center and transfer station during the cold months, and a glass crusher that will produce sand that can be used for landscaping purposes,” Picard said.
He added that as the TERF recycling program expands, CTUIR members will need to properly prepare materials for recycling. The grant will allow this through appropriate training through brochures and informational documents.
The grant comes from more than $34 million in solid waste infrastructure funding for recycling and more than $3.5 million in recycling education and outreach grants in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest . The grants are funded by the bipartisan Infrastructure Act and will expand recycling infrastructure and education for waste management systems in states, tribes and communities.
