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DEQ awards $600,000 in grants for reduce, reuse, recycle programs in Oregon

 
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DEQ is awarding nearly $600,000 in grants to 17 organizations around the state to promote reduction, reuse and recycling of consumer materials. These annual grants, provided by DEQ’s Materials Management program, boost projects that benefit Oregon’s environment and share best practices.
 
“Oregon has long had a strong recycling ethic,” said DEQ Director Richard Whitman. “But we are learning that we must do even more to fight pollution of our land, air and water. These grants matter because organizations need money to continue doing this important work.”

 Read full news release

 

Oregon DEQ's low-cost air 
quality SensOR™

Oregon DEQ's low-cost air quality SensOR™

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A new lower-cost air quality monitor developed by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality's laboratory will allow the agency to provide timely particulate pollution information at more locations throughout the state. Already, eight of the devices, called the SensOR, have been placed at new Air Quality Index sites in Bend, Brookings, Chiloquin, Coos Bay, Florence, Forest Grove, northeast Portland and Redmond.

In 2017, the Oregon Legislature funded an additional 30 monitoring sites for DEQ’s AQI, an interactive website that allows the public to check local conditions. Over the last year, DEQ lab staff has developed an innovative design, which uses a light sensor to measure particulate matter that is less than 2.5 microns in diameter or approximately one-twenty-fifth the size of a human hair. The scientists spent several months calibrating the SensORs to their more expensive reference instruments to ensure the AQI is accurate and reliable.

For more details on the DEQ lab’s latest invention, go to DEQ's Newsroom.