October 2025 Unity Environmental Action Team

Dear Environmental Action Team at Unity,

We met on October 12 to continue taking steps to better align our environmental values with our actions and communities. As Betsy reminded us of this gem of wisdom, passed on via Mike Meyers, we are serving the Earth. Saving it, well, that is bigger than all of us.  Here is a quick recap of that meeting, along with some of the action items we debriefed, and ideas for future actions. 

I have updated our Blog with this news and some additional links.

First, we decided to join the No Kings actions in Eugene to stand against the Trump administration’s rollback of renewable energy projects and a wide range of other environmental protections. 

The latest data on CO2 emissions and this graph on Pacific ocean warming presents a scientifically grounded warning that the world, and our country in particular, is failing to reduce our use of toxic fossil fuels, setting up further challenges for future generations. For example, see news on the latest lawsuit to the criminal actions by the Trump administration:  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/16/lawsuit-trump-cancel-solar-energy-program   See you on Saturday at the No Kings rally 10am-1pm, in Eugene, 405 E. 8^th Ave!  https://www.indivisible-eug-spr.org/  

River Clean-up!  A big thank you and acknowledgement to the Unity volunteers who helped with the Great Willamette River Clean-up on October 4. The trash hauler award goes to…. Alison and Andy for braving the waters to haul in this!  Of course, thank you to everyone else who joined in the efforts!   

On another note, let’s also acknowledge our friends with the Interfaith EarthKeepers Alliance, Eugene-Springfield chapter. See this link for more information about their upcoming events (we may want to ask them to post our next events?): https://interfaithearthkeepers.org/  While Ron is out of town, does anyone want to serve as a liaison to the IEA? 

For the next meeting:

·        Unity’s “Adopt One Block” – We decided to plan for a local clean-up for January 2026, hoping to cover the neighborhood up to and around the local Dari Mart.  Alison will follow up with Denice about this possibility. We need to confirm this at our November meeting and then invite the congregation and friends to join us on the second Sunday of January, after potluck, for a New Year Neighborhood service. 

·        Update from John and Ruth about the compost bucket, and anything else from Geneva on the kitchen team plans. 

·        We decided to continue with rotating chairs/co-chairs and notetakers for these meetings. Betsy volunteered for the November meeting. Will someone please volunteer for notetaking?

·        At our meeting on 10/12, we briefly discussed our previous aim of completing a guide to share with the congregation.  The idea was to provide an accessible set of links to local reuse and recycling programs. I am compiling the list of what was mentioned in our last two meetings. Let’s add this to our agenda for November to discuss and approve so that we can get the guide out before the holidays. Bring your suggestions to the next meeting or email me with items to add.

Reuse, recycle, and re-purpose resources: A guide from UV-EAT

City of Eugene's recycling flyer or the Lane County Waste Wise tool.    Webpage for Recycle On, Oregon.

Get details about curbside and drop-off recycling. https://recycleon.org/oregon/

BRING Recycling 

https://bringrecycling.org

Our region's go-to destination for salvaged and surplus building materials, garden supplies, tools, and more! Browse our exclusive BRINGmade merchandise.

NextStep Recycling:  Accepts and recycles a wide range of electronics, prioritizing reuse and refurbishing. 

Curbside Recycling:  Check the City of Eugene's website for a list of accepted materials, which are typically commingled in your bin (except for glass). Be sure to avoid contamination by not putting items like plastic bags or food containers in the bin. 

To determine how to dispose of specific items, use the 

Electronics:  Donate or drop off electronics at NextStep Recycling or St. Vincent de Paul for reuse and recycling, which is prioritized. NextStep offers data wiping, and St. Vincent de Paul is part of the Oregon E-Cycle program. 

Construction & Demolition Materials: 

Resources are available for recycling and reusing materials like asphalt, concrete, metal, and wood. 

Yard Debris: 

Reuse leaves as mulch or compost, or place them in your yard debris container for collection by your garbage company. 

Centers for reuse and repurposing

• BRING Recycling: 

A hub for salvaged building materials, garden supplies, tools, and other surplus items. 

• NextStep Recycling: 

Accepts and recycles a wide range of electronics, prioritizing reuse and refurbishing. 

• St. Vincent de Paul: 

Collects and recycles consumer electronics, prioritizing reuse and supporting local services. 

• City of Eugene: 

Hosts repair events and offers resources to support a variety of reuse and repurposing initiatives. 

Community and waste prevention programs

City of Eugene Leaf Program: 

Collects and recycles leaves, which are then often delivered back to residents for use in gardens. 

• FiX iT Lane County: 

A community program that provides resources and events to help people repair items instead of throwing them away. 

Waste Wise Guide: 

The Lane County Waste Wise Guide provides information on where to take hard-to-recycle materials. 

Waste Wise App: 

Use the WasteWise Lane County app to check if an item is recyclable or not. 

Other Places to Recycle & Donate

   Eugene Habitat ReStore

https://habitatlanerestore.org › donate › where-to-recycle

Stereos, Radios, Televisions, VCRs & DVD players etc… Central Recycling Station (541-682-4120) Lane County Transfer Station 541-682-4120 (call to check)

News about bringing your own containers for Take-out

https://www.registerguard.com/story/entertainment/dining/2025/10/14/reusable-containers-restaurants-oregon/86550212007/

 

Finally, ongoing trash and debris clean-ups can be found below for the coming weeks. 

Willamette Riverkeepers:

Trashy Tuesday cleanup, on water. Reserve a seat in a boat or BYOB.  Details and sign up in advance: Eugene-Springfield River Guardians Trashy Tuesday: River House to Beltline Seat in Raft or BYOB (ON WATER) (Copy) — Willamette Riverkeeper

McKenzie River Trust Cleanups:

Watershed Wednesdays, 9:am every Wednesday. You need to sign up in advance. Event - McKenzie River Trust | Protecting Lands in Western Oregon

First-Friday cleanup at the Coast Fork confluence, sign up in advance: Event - McKenzie River Trust | Protecting Lands in Western Oregon

UV EAT Summer 2025

 

Dear Unity Environmentalists!

The updates on the Eugene recycling programs are becoming clear. Check out this website for the latest news on what we can expect about recycling plastics… for now.  Please read the minutes from the August meeting too. There are many details below.

Recycling | Eugene, OR Website

International Day of Peace:  September 21, 2025

Join the Peace Wave at noon, 9/21, across all timezones on Planet Earth!  Peace and environmental well-being are deeply interconnected: both require systems of care, cooperation, and sustainability to thrive. War and conflict devastate ecosystems—through deforestation, pollution, and displacement—while resource scarcity and ecological collapse often fuel violence and geopolitical tensions. In contrast, a peaceful society is better equipped to protect natural resources, enforce environmental regulations, and foster global collaboration on issues like climate change. Thus, nurturing peace creates the conditions for environmental stewardship, and safeguarding the environment reduces the root causes of conflict, forming a mutually reinforcing cycle of resilience and justice.

Learn more here (https://internationaldayofpeace.org/) and stay tuned for local events in Lane County!

River Clean-Up Opportunities:

We agreed to continue to explore opportunities to join in clean-ups along the river.  We plan to have a group clean-up in October as well. We will get those details to the Unity bulletin.  In the meantime, Willamette Riverkeepers hosts Trashy Tuesday cleanups every 3^rd Tuesday of the month. You can register at their website for August 19, or Sept. 16^th here. This week, there is also a Pride Paddle event on Thursday.  More details here: Event List — Willamette Riverkeeper

 

Meeting Agendas and Notes from August 08 and July 13, via Ruth and Denice Ward

Present: Ron, Cathy, Nicole, Rex, Betsy, Denice, John Garrett, Ruth K., Donna O'Neal

1. Betsy - Shared some thoughts related to the Gratitude presentation done this year by Eric Alan, Tom Titus and others.

                She was struck by the quote: "We are not here to save the world, we are here to serve the world"

            - Think of the koi in the pond - just has to be in the pond to complete its purpose. - and so are we -- don't stress, just                   do what we do - to lift up the Earth!!

2. Ron.  "Aloha" reminded us about the meeting on August 15th at Unity sponsored by the Elder Council. A follow-up to the documentary shown earlier. 

- Bonnie Paquin said there will be 2 tables in the fellowship hall for Q&A and sharing. She asked if we wanted a table for EAT. Betsy, Rex, Ruth all volunteer to be here. Ruth is collecting fliers from other environmental groups to share at this table.

Ron will be at the Elder Council table.

3. How to Broaden Our Scope

    Ron attends Interfaith Earthkeepers Meetings. They do a variety of projects that are "hands on" and coordinate with McKenzie River Trust.

   Ruth suggests that if Ron can't fo, one of us takes his place to keep up with the news.

   Cathy asked about the next river clean up. John Garrett looked online and reported that the soonest one is on the water in boats. We can find out more by checking Willamette River Keepers.

- Do we want to connect with other groups?

4 Clean ups

Tugman park is pretty clean. The consensus is that Dairy Mart is a good place to try next. If we don't like it, we can choose another. Donna suggests we just pick a certain Sunday of the quarter. Ruth suggested we do the 2nd Sunday,after a short meeting of EAT,

5. Recycling

    Do we Diana to come again?

Rex went to Sanipac and got a flyer, which was different than the one that came in his bill. Seems to still be confusion.

September 16th at 3:30 at Bring there is a seminar about recycling. Rex is going to go with his questions. Thanks, Rex.

-Nancy's is now collecting the lids of yogurt tubs, since we can put the tubs in regular recycling.

- Ron was told if container was 3" wide, or 2" by 2", it could be recycled. Ron is going to check on recycling clean plastic bags. John noted that Albertsons takes plastic bags - but we don't know if it has to have symbol and #. 

-Lowes has collection for #2,#4 plastic bags.

Since we have to wait for clarification, we (Ruth) will ask Diana to come to the September 14 meeting.

 

5. Kitchen Update

    Geneva came to the meeting, and reported that Sunny is not interested in changing the system in the kitchen herself, but is OK with Geneva working on it. (Compost, etc)

Bill brought a compost bucket, and it will be placed next to trash. Ruth and John have offered to take it home. THANK YOU!

* We need to make an announcement at Sunday Service to get the "bucket news" out there.

PLASTIC Clamshell, etc, - Kitchen staff is willing to separate the plastic containers that the food donations come in, andwe can take them.

REMINDER TO EAT: Please bring your own plates/cups to be used in the Fellowship Hall. We need to model this habit.

Donna suggests we bring them in a small bag that we can stash under our chairs rather than find a place to store them together. AGREED

 

Other:

Ruth will check with Gina about announcing bucket and "bring your own plate"

Interfaith Earthkeepers meets the 4th Wednesday of the month.

Tip for Bulletin: Check MECCA - they can help you recycle items. 

1. I spoke to Diana and she says she has been to several meetings and is clear on what the current state-wide plastic recycling rules are at this time so I invited her to the EA Team meeting the second Sunday of September. She said we can bring examples of plastics we are not sure of and she will tell us if they are recyclable or not. She said she also has additional info for us.
2. For the EA Team table this evening, I have a flyer from Interfaith Earthkeepers. There will be two individuals from 350 Eugene who will also bring some flyers. I will see if anything else comes in this morning.

Updated August Agenda

• Go Over agenda - any additions?
• Designate notetaker
• Updates on
• Recycling
• Next clean-up activity
• Working with kitchen angels to reduce waste at UV
• Discussion of broadening impact/connecting with other groups
• Tip for October bulletin
• Other items?
• Designate facilitator for next meeting

 

Unity of the Valley Environmental Action Team 

Meeting Minutes July 13, 2025

Present: Ruth, John, Ron, Cathy, Mary, Betsy, Michael, Bill

Item

·      Plastics Recycling

o   Discussed next steps. Master Recycler, Diana, is attending trainings related to the new plastic recycling rules. She will reach out to us and will be happy to speak at a future EA team meeting to update us so that we can pass the information on to the congregation.

 

·      Next Clean-up

o   Discussed the list sent by Donna

o   Discussed potential of another river cleanup with Willamette River Keeper.

o   Michael will send an email with information and potential dates. 

·      Other potential activities

o   Amanda provided information regarding an event in Cottage Grove for the United Nations International Day of Peace on September 21 and wondered if UV could have a table or some other activity there. Because the event is on a  Sunday and the timing overlaps with the UV service we will not be able to participate.

 

·      Listening session on reducing waste at UV events with representative from UV Kitchen Angels (Geneva)

o   Compost: There is probably room for a compost bucket next to the trash can in the kitchen. Bill offered to bring in a 5 gallon bucket for this use. Geneva will talk to Sunny. Will need to share with the congregation before implementing.

o   Separating plastics from other trash: There is limited kitchen space. If we can figure out where to put another can, Geneva thinks the Kitchen Angels would be willing to separate plastic from other trash. 

o   How to reduce use of plastics:  Lynn provides all of the plastic-packaged food from Fred Myers and donates this weekly of her own heart and volition. 

o   How to reduce use of paper plates/plastic utensils. Some of us have started bringing our own plates/utensils to after-service refreshments.  Discussed the possibility of encouraging congregants to bring their own reusable dishware/utensils as well as the possibility of providing plates/utensils for congregants to put together their own reusable “kits.” This will require some education of the community. Geneva suggested a Sunday service skit. 

·      Do we want to broaden or reach/effort and tie in with other groups and efforts with a larger impact? 

o   Betsy indicated she has information to share about this but did not have it available for this meeting. We will look to hear from her at a future meeting.

o   Ruth is a member of Indivisible Eugene Springfield (IES) which has an environmental action group. IES is part of a coalition (Activist Coalition of Eugene Springfield (ACES)) which includes the environmental groups 350 Eugene, Beyond Toxics, and Interfaith Earthkeepers of Eugene Springfield. 

§  Ron attends meeting of Interfaith Earthkeepers.

§  Some of us are involved with and/or on mailing lists for other local environmental groups, e.g., Divest Oregon, McKenzie River Trust, Long Tom Watershed, Willamette Resources and Educational Network (WREN).

o   Due to limited time, will continue discussion at next meeting.

 ·      EA Team Tips: We keep forgetting to get it to Gena in time for Bulletin. Needs to be in by 7^th of the month preceding. 

 Next meeting: August 10, 2025 Tentative agenda items

o   Updates on:

§  Recycling

§  Next cleanup activity

§  Reducing waste at UV

o   Discussion of broader reach, joining other groups with Betsy providing info if she has it. 

o   Let’s decide on a tip for October so we can get it to Gena by September 7! If you have a tip, pass it on to John!

UV EAT February 2025

 

Unity of the Valley Environmental Action, February 2025

Dear Unity stewards for the environment,

Our Unity Environmental Action Team met on February 9 to continue taking steps to better align our environmental values with our actions and communities. I have a few requests and reminders below.

First, I am excited to share word that instead of meeting as a group on March 9, we instead be screening the film, Youth v. Gov in the Unity Sanctuary. We will do this right after fellowship (and plastics recycling).  Please invite friends in the congregation and members of the community to join us on March 9 at 12:30 to watch this empowering film – details are below in the attached image.  Please share the invitation with the image below.  Remember to bring some homemade cookies with Earth-care in mind.

Second, John, Ruth, Michael, Bill, Denise, Denice, Gary, and Yvonne continued to refine our plastics recycling protocol for the community. Ruth graciously offered to work with Gena to clarify the phrasing in the announcements to read: Bring clean, dry, and sorted #2,#4, and #5 plastics. 

Third, for local trash and debris clean-ups, you are invited to the following opportunities in the coming weeks. 

Willamette Riverkeepers:

Trashy Tuesday cleanup, on water. Reserve a seat in a boat or BYOB.  March 11, 8:30am-1pm. Details and sign up in advance: Eugene-Springfield River Guardians Trashy Tuesday: River House to Beltline Seat in Raft or BYOB (ON WATER) (Copy) — Willamette Riverkeeper

McKenzie River Trust Cleanups:

Watershed Wednesdays, 9:am every Wednesday. You need to sign up in advance. Event - McKenzie River Trust | Protecting Lands in Western Oregon

First-Friday cleanup at the Coast Fork confluence, sign up in advance: Event - McKenzie River Trust | Protecting Lands in Western Oregon

Unity’s “Adopt One Block” – Denice has followed up with our previous decision to adopt two blocks near Unity of the Valley.  We invite UV EAT members and the larger congregation to clean-up the two neighboring blocks on April 13, as part of a celebration of Earth Week. 

Finally, we decided to proceed with rotating chairs/co-chairs and notetakers for these meetings. Will you please reply to me only if you can serve as a meeting chairperson or notetaker for any of the upcoming monthly meetings, June and beyond?  Denice and Ruth will chair our May 11 meeting.

January 2025 UV EAT Update

Hello friends with UV EAT,

Once again, the planet reached another temperature record – 2024 was the warmest on record! As we continue to work together to build an ethic and practice of care for Creation, we also face these facts. Thank you for your resiliency and love.

We last met on January 11, 2025 and our next meeting is February 9 at Unity of the Valley’s Garden room, 12:15-1:30.

At our last meeting we decided to encourage an announcement/reminder and expression of gratitude to the congregation about plastics recycling, ideally for the 1^st Sunday (possibly different dates, depending on Ruth’s conversation with Gena). We also want to remind everyone to please wash and sort all plastics, per our guide below. 

Our next steps include  planning for a river cleanup in March and a visit from a representative from 350/Fossil Free Eugene.  Once the date is secure, we will invite the congregation to the presentation.

We also welcomed Mari and Maura to the group!

Betsy updated us on the work of the Eugene Interfaith Earthkeepers. The last meeting was led by the minister at First Congregational, Mark Lindberg, and thematically organized as “Stronger Together” on 1/12.  Here are the links to the group which also provides nicely distilled links to news about the environment and advocacy work.  https://interfaithearthkeepers.org/

We agreed as a group that we will begin taking steps to encourage the Unity Board to join the Interfaith Earthkeepers of Eugene/Springfield.  We will discuss this at our 2/09 meeting.

Mari suggested adding a local cleanup to our service activities and recommend that Adopt One Block.  https://www.adoptoneblock.org/

After some discussion, we agreed to look into adopting the block around Unity. Denise offered to contact them and bring details to our February meeting.

UV EAT plans to invite a speaker from 350 Eugene to tell us about their work here in Eugene to support clean and renewable energy for our communities. Learn more about them at these two links below:

350 Eugene - Home

FOSSIL FREE EUGENE

Plastics Recycling at Unity:

We can now recycle plastics that our local waste haulers (eg. Sanipac & others) won’t pick up. A volunteer will be available in the Garden Room after the service on the 2nd Sunday of each month, from 11:45 to 12:15 to collect your cleaned and sorted-by-number plastics. The EAT team meets after that if you would like to join in! 

Instructions:

• Remove all lids. Lids may be recycled but the number on them may differ from the container.

• Check any plastics to see if it has a triangle with a #2, #4, or #5 inside the triangle. We can only accept those numbers.

• CLEAN and DRY all plastics to be recycled, (We can’t accept them if not)

• First separate all items by number (see below)

        •    Sorting #2 Plastics:

                • Any #2 bottles or jugs that are larger than a tennis ball (=more than 2” wide x 2” tall) can go to local carrier. Do Not Bring here.

                • #2 bottles smaller than a tennis ball (eg, vitamin/prescription bottles.) For prescription bottles, remove label or black out names. Put these into their own bag.

                • Other #2s, such as tubs, bins, lids, PakTech beverage carriers/handles that have a #2 — all can go in another bag.

• Sorting #4 and #5. Put each into their own bag.

• Remove lids and check lids for their number to sort as well.

• We can take clean #5 plant pots smaller than 2 gallons.

• NOTE: We do NOT take any #1s, no plastic bags, or #5 plant pots larger than 2 gallons (which CAN go to BRING for resale/reuse).  Your local waste handler DOES TAKE #1 plastics as well as #2 plastic jugs and bottles larger than a tennis ball

Thank you for taking this small step with the Unity Environmental Action Team!

Unity of the Valley Environmental Action Team’s Territorial Acknowledgement:

Unity of the Valley is located on Kalapuya Ilihi, the traditional indigenous homeland of the Kalapuya people. Following treaties between 1851 and 1855, Kalapuya people were dispossessed of their indigenous homeland by the United States government and forcibly removed to the Coast Reservation in Western Oregon. Today, descendants are citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians of Oregon, and continue to make important contributions in their communities, at UO, and across the land we now refer to as Oregon.*

*We thank the Native Strategies Group and the Department of Sociology at the University of Oregon for the language in this statement which we adapted to our group.

December UV-EAT Post, with January Reminders

 

Beautiful Eugene, river, land, and sky.  

Greetings Friends!

We met on December 8 to collect and sort plastics that would otherwise end up in the landfill. Our haul was fairly large for our second attempt at this. We resume the recycling this coming Sunday, January 12. Be sure to bring your clean and dry plastics to the Garden Room between 11:45-12:15.  We will begin our meeting at 12:15 on January 12.

At our December meeting we agreed to the following:

1)      We will strive to make an announcement each month thanking the congregation for dropping off plastics for recycling. Denice or Donna agreed to make those announcements, pending approval by ministerial team. 

2)      Reviewed and approved the recycling instructions, which are below.

3)      We discussed sample land Acknowledgement statements and agreed to the one that is now listed on our blog site and listed at the bottom of this email. We aspire to share this with Unity leadership, asking to consider the possibility of including it in the bulletin, website, or as an announcement. Next steps?

4)      We agreed to identify a date for the next local environmental clean-up: the Willamette Riverkeepers have the following options for us to consider.

a.      Register Now for a floating clean up on Tuesday January 14. https://willamette-riverkeeper.org/event-list

b.      If you cannot make it, they will have another clean-up on February 11 and March 11.

5)      When we have speakers, aspire to announce them to the congregation on the day they are scheduled to visit UV EAT.  We also want to thank speakers and visitors after their visits.

Next actions: We discussed the possibility of a kitchen use survey for Unity to identify areas where small changes could be considered. We discussed the possibility of asking the Board to issue a statement for all services at Unity to consider the most ecologically friendly options.

We are planning a visit with Fossil Free Eugene to hear about their work in the community. Michael is waiting for confirmation on their availability for our February meeting. 

Plastics Recycling at Unity:

We can now recycle plastics that our local waste haulers (eg. Sanipac & others) won’t pick up. A volunteer will be available in the Garden Room after the service on the 2nd Sunday of each month, from 11:45 to 12:15 to collect your cleaned and sorted-by-number plastics. The EAT team meets after that if you would like to join in! 

Instructions:

• Remove all lids. Lids may be recycled but the number on them may differ from the container.

• Check any plastics to see if it has a triangle with a #2, #4, or #5 inside the triangle. We can only accept those numbers.

• CLEAN and DRY all plastics to be recycled, (We can’t accept them if not)

• First separate all items by number (see below)

• Sorting #2 Plastics:

• Any #2 bottles or jugs that are larger than a tennis ball (=more than 2” wide x 2” tall) can go to local carrier. Do Not Bring here.

• #2 bottles smaller than a tennis ball (eg, vitamin/prescription bottles.) For prescription bottles, remove label or black out names. Put these into their own bag.

• Other #2s, such as tubs, bins, lids, PakTech beverage carriers/handles that have a #2 — all can go in another bag.

• Sorting #4 and #5. Put each into their own bag.

• Remove lids and check lids for their number to sort as well.

• They can take clean #5 plant pots smaller than 2 gallons.

• NOTE: We do NOT take any #1s, no plastic bags, or #5 plant pots larger than 2 gallons (which CAN go to BRING for resale/reuse).

Thank you for taking this small step with the Unity Environmental Action Team!

 

Unity of the Valley Environmental Action Team’s Territorial Acknowledgement:

Unity of the Valley is located on Kalapuya Ilihi, the traditional indigenous homeland of the Kalapuya people. Following treaties between 1851 and 1855, Kalapuya people were dispossessed of their indigenous homeland by the United States government and forcibly removed to the Coast Reservation in Western Oregon. Today, descendants are citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians of Oregon, and continue to make important contributions in their communities, at UO, and across the land we now refer to as Oregon.*

*We thank the Native Strategies Group and the Department of Sociology at the University of Oregon for the language in this statement which we adapted to our group.

November 2024 UV EAT

 

November 2024 UV EAT Activities

Hello UV EAT!

Here is a quick recap of our meeting on November 10, 2024. This, and all our past actions and meeting updates are on our blog site as well (https://uv-environmental-action-team.blogspot.com/). At our next meeting, we will implement our plastics recycling program at Unity and then discuss a land acknowledgement statement for UV EAT.  

Most of our 11/10 meeting was spent working with Diana on the plastics recycling project. Here is what we will implement for the December 8 collection at Unity. This text will be shared in the Unity bulletin as our Eco tip for the month.  

Plastics Recycling at Unity

With the help of Diana, we can recycle plastics that our local waste haulers (e.g., Sanipac) won't pick up. A volunteer will be available in the Garden Rm. after the 2nd Sunday service of each month, 11:45-noon to collect your cleaned and sorted by number plastics.  Removed all lids. Sometimes lids have a different # than the container. Check anything plastic to see if it has a triangle with a #2, #4 or #5 inside the triangle.

First, separate all #2 plastics:

1.      Any #2 bottles or jugs that are larger than a tennis ball (more than 2” wide x 2” tall) can go to your local waste handler. 

2.      You can bring #2 plastic bottles that are smaller than a tennis ball (e.g., vitamin/prescription bottles). For prescription bottles, remove label or blackout names. 

3.      In another bag, you can bring anything else with #2 besides bottles such as tubs, plastic bins, lids. Lint rollers and PakTech beverage carriers/handles that have a #2.

Then sort #4 and #5 into their own bags as well. Again, remove lids & check lids for their number to sort as well. Can take clean #5 plant pots smaller than 2 gallons.

Next, bring your cleaned and sorted #2, #4, #5 plastics to the Garden room @ Unity on the 2nd Sunday.  We won't accept items that are dirty or moldy. Labels don’t need to be removed, unless it’s a prescription bottle – either black out personal info or remove label.

We do not take plastic bags or #5 plant pots bigger than 2 gallons (which can go to BRING recycling for resale/reuse.)

Thank you for this small step with the Unity Environmental Action Team! 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

We also agreed to spend some time discussing a statement that acknowledges indigenous history and the land the Unity of Valley sits on today.  I have posted several samples of "land acknowledgments" from the University of Oregon. Please look at them on this Google Document: (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sCFNRotZev_z3SrB0ZkFTleXDCOHPurJFW1svxx4xT0/edit?usp=sharing). You can make comments or suggestions/preferences, but not directly in the document. Your comments will show up as suggestions. You can also simply click the add comment button. Please register your feedback/preference in this way. 

 

We agreed to change the meeting's start and end times. Going forward, we will begin at 12:15 and end at 1:15pm, second Sundays of the month.

 

Finally, remember to send Donna your Eco Tips!  We agreed to provide these to the congregation.  Please send them directly to Donna O'Neil yogawithdonna@gmail.com

October Activities

 

Hello friends. We meet again on Sunday Nov. 10 at 12:15-1:15. See you then. It was wonderful to partner with Willamette Riverkeeper and the City of Eugene to help clean up a small section of the great Willamette river!  Eight members of the Unity's Environmental Action Team met with park officials on the west bank of the river. We were joined by members of Willamette Riverkeepers and the city as we fanned out along the lush river bank to clear garbage, debris and identify anything particularly hazardous.  Our team hauled in a lot of garbage. Scroll down for some photos from the day.

On Sunday October 13, our meeting focused on the issue of plastics recycling. Our guest, Diana Abernathey, instructed us on the basic requirements and confusing complexities of what is and is not recyclable plastic. But she also how to recycle plastics beyond what our waste collectors will do.Diana generously agreed to pick up recyclable plastics between 11:45-12:15 on the second Sundays of the month, right before our meeting - so bring recyclable plastics that your waste hauler doesn't accept. NOTE: only #1 and #2 plastic jugs/jars/bottles larger than a tennis ball can be recycled through most waste handlers like Sanipac. Diana can get the smaller and unusual plastics, including #5s, and take them to a local recycler in Portland. Please review the attached information to better understand the do's and don'ts of recylcing, and also what items to bring to Unity on Sunday, November 10.  This is the link to the 40 page Waste Wise Guide to Sustainability online.

See you on November 10.

English WasteWise Guide

the Spanish one

I've updated the blog to include some pictures from the Willamette river clean up in October.  Thank you everyone for joining that effort. It was a beautiful day to spend time cleaning up the river park.  You can see them here:

This is the full WasteWise site with even more information:

Garbage & Recycling lanecounty.org

A quick training 

A common sight: Before

After

A few needles around identified too

And life on the river is glorious