5 results for tag: bottle bill

Celebrate Earth Week with BottleDrop Give!

Happy Earth Week! Obviously, this is our favorite time of year at OEC. It’s an opportunity to go on a favorite hike, connect with your community, and reflect on the beauty and bounty of our one and only planet. However, this holiday isn’t just about celebration: it’s also about looking ahead, and standing up for the future of our home. It’s no secret that we’re feeling the effects of climate change and environmental crises now more than ever before. But that doesn’t mean we should wallow in the doom and gloom of it all: it means now is the time to act. There is genuine reason to be optimistic when we’re all working together. Earth ...

Larry Williams

In January, 1970, Larry Williams became the first Executive Director and staff member of Oregon Environmental Council, following President Maradel Gale who served as a volunteer. Williams served as Executive Director during a time of change and growth in Oregon’s environmental movement. As he writes in this memoir, many organizations, such as Oregon League of Conservation Voters, SOLVE and others, were sparked in the months following the founding of Oregon Environmental Council. Larry is now retired, living in Washington, D.C. and is excited to return to Oregon for OEC's 50th Anniversary Celebration. Memories of an Oregon Conservationi...

Thank you Travel Oregon!

As we prepare to celebrate 50 years of loving Oregon, Oregon Environmental Council a proud to announce we are the recipient of Travel Oregon’s competitive grants program. The grant will help our nonprofit create a public art tourism loop in 2018 to celebrate our legacy of collaborative environmental policy in Oregon, including the Beach Bill, Bottle Bill and Bike Bill. We are excited to be partnering with Portland State University, the cities of Cannon Beach and Salem, Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative, 1000 Friends of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest College of Art on this project. The $17,000 awarded to OEC, is part of Travel Oregon's ...

Remembering Don Waggoner

By Kevin Kasowski  Here at OEC, we’re raising a bottle in memory of Don Waggoner, an early OEC activist, board member and OEC President who passed away suddenly this week at his home in Portland. Long before sustainability became one of Oregon’s hallmarks, back in 1971, Don was OEC’s point person for one of OEC’s first major victories – the adoption of the nickel deposit Bottle Bill – that was spread to other states nationally as well. Don, along with Rich Chambers, led this effort. As Don noted in a recent Oregonian editorial, the Bottle Bill marked the beginning of the end for America’s “throwaway” culture. Before ...

What’s old is new: opposition edition

By Danny Schaffer More than 40 years after its passage, the bottle bill remains one of Oregon’s most celebrated laws – elevating the state’s image as a national leader for environmental policy. The bill is also an enduring source of pride for the Oregon Environmental Council, which played a key role in its passage. As a fledgling organization, launched just five years earlier, the bottle bill’s success solidified OEC’s reputation as an effective voice for principled yet pragmatic environmental policies. The bill, not surprisingly, was bitterly opposed by the beverage and container industries which dreaded that it would become a model ...