The environmental value of Metro region recycling for 2007

Planning and conservation › Managing garbage and recycling › Recycling and waste reduction reports › environmental benefits of recycling

This report summarizes the results of early stages of integrating MEBCalc (Measuring Environmental Benefits Calculator) analyzing the effectiveness of regional waste reduction programs. The MEBCalc measures the net value of the region's recovery, factoring in these seven impact categories:

Climate change
Human health impacts from particulates
Human health impacts from toxic chemicals
Human health impacts from carcinogens
Eutrophication (addition of mineral nutrients to soil or water)
Acidification (anthropogenic releases of acidifying compounds that affect trees, soil, buildings, animals and humans)
Ecosystem impacts from toxic chemicals

The report includes descriptions of the life cycle analyses used to develop the estimates for the environmental benefits of recycling, the sources for the economic valuations of those environmental benefits, and the assumptions used on certain subjects on which life cycle analysts have yet to reach consensus.

Using MEBCalc, Metro estimates that the value of the environmental benefits from the region diverting 1.29 million tons of materials from disposal in 2007 was $155 million, or $120 per ton. Most of this environmental value comes from pollution reductions in the manufacture of new products that were made possible by replacing virgin raw materials with recycled materials and petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides with compost.

MEBCalc was developed by Sound Resource Management Group of Olympia, Washington. Please contact Steve Apotheker at steve.apotheker@oregonmetro.gov if you have questions about the MEBCalc.

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The environmental value of Metro region recycling for 2007

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