A Sustainability Portrait of McMinnville, Oregon
McMinnville is the county seat of Yamhill County, Oregon. The 2020 census reports that it has 34,000 residents. It is in the heart of wine country about an hour southwest of Portland, and an hour east of the Oregon shore. No freeways pass anywhere near. I prepared the following sustainability profile of McMinnville in anticipation of an in-town presentation. You might be amazed.
Lafayette Locks County Park
Today’s Lafayette Locks County Park is an example of Yamhill County environmental stewardship from 60 years ago.
Locks and a dam on the Yamhill River were used from 1900 to 1954 to take wheat and timber to market. They fell into disuse as railroads became available and were signed over to Yamhill County in 1959. The state Wildlife commission determined that the dam was a barrier to fish. So, in 1964 the county chose to dynamite the dam.
Zero Waste McMinnville
More recently activists formed Zero Waste McMinnville (ZWM) in 2014. It has a seven member Board, with four Advisory “board” members. “Since 2014, our goal has been to make McMinnville the first city in Oregon to divert 90% of our waste from landfills by 2030. We envision McMinnville as a sustainable community that provides programs and education to promote policies that eliminate waste.”
ZWM’s Plastic Project collects plastics that have not yet been collected through curbside bins. Like Styrofoam, straws and bread wrapper clips. You separate items by plastic symbol, and actually pay a little to help cover the recycling cost. Eight events from 2022 to 2024 kept over three tons of plastic out of the landfills. ZWM’s current partner is Green Century Recycling.
Zero Waste McMinnville successfully advocated adding glass curbside recycling to Yamhill County’s franchise agreement with Recology (see below).
ZWM led the effort to ban plastic bags in McMinnville. This may have precipitated a State of Oregon law allowing thick plastic reusable bags to be purchased at the point of sale, partially undermining McMinnville’s initiative.
ZWM organized “Plastics v Planet Fair” Earth Day 2024 and the “McMinnville Recycled Arts and Sustainability Fair” in 2023.
Zero Waste McMinnville also championed the creation of Edible Landscapes of Yamhill County and the Mac Tool Library.
Sustainable Rituals
Haley Queen, who is a ZWM advisory board member, founded Sustainable Rituals. This store, inside a community gathering place called Mac Market, has over 200 eco-friendly products for kitchen, home & gift, bath & beauty, laundry, wellness, mama & baby, pets, and plant care. Here you find bamboo hair brushes, dish soap bars, and corn-starch doggie poop bags.
A Walk in the Neighborhood
What sustainable practices do I see walking through the neighborhood?
A grandmother redwood tree grows at the corner of 11th and Hembree. It provides shade, elegance and carbon sequestration. Someone, decades ago, planted it.
Countless lawns have been turned into gardens. In the spring, neighborhood trees radiate blossoms. Come August, the sidewalks are littered with pears and apples. Where are the gleaners?
At least four tiny libraries offer entertainment and wisdom within walking distance of the place my wife and I stayed.
McMinnville Library
The McMinnville Library Vision says, “The Library is an essential partner in creating authentic and meaningful connections between individuals, ideas, and the community.”
Neither the Vision nor the library’s Mission mention “sustainability”. Even so repeatedly reusing books, puzzles and games – and making some of them available on line – literally defines a library. It is a core element of McMinnville’s sustainable services.
Thrift Stores in McMinnville
With the help of Yelp, I identified a dozen thrift stores near McMinnville. I love some of the names: Homeward Bound Treasures, New to You, Groovy Mart, Aftermath, La Bella Casa. Yes, McMinnville has a St. Vincent de Paul and a Goodwill too.
Computer and Device Repair
What if my computer freezes up? Check with Premisys on Baker St. They get 3.9 stars on Yelp. Yelp also yields a half dozen other computer and device services in the McMinnville area. Give your computer or phone a couple extra years of life – and the miners of the world less reason to desecrate Spaceship Earth.
Recology
Recology provides recycling and trash collection under contract with McMinnville. This employee-owned company serves 2.5 million individual customers and 100,000 commercial customers in Washington, Oregon and California.
Julia Mangin, Head of Sustainability at Recology, says “three-fourths of all recyclable materials, including plastics, that make it into households are just being thrown away.” Conversely, she points out “Only three percent of residential recyclables are lost at Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs), which shows that the recyclable materials being placed in the recycling bin do in fact get recycled at a very high rate.”
In other words, we each need to tend to our part of the circular economy.
Recology Organics in McMinnville “processes 25,000 tons of yard trimmings and food scraps annually.” Their retail outlet sells compost, bark, and soil blends.
Cascade Steel
Cascade Steel employs almost 400 persons. Founded in 1968, the company supplies ten states with recycled steel made in McMinnville. They use an electric arc furnace which has one-fifth the carbon footprint of a blast furnace. They have been a subsidiary of Radius Recycling (formerly Schnitzer Steel) since 1984. Some of Cascade’s scrap metal comes from Radius Recycling’s auto dismantling subsidiary Pick n’ Pull. (See my Pick-n-Pull Adventures here.)
Statistics: “Recycling one ton of steel conserves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone. Creating products from recycled steel instead of virgin ore uses 40% less water and reduces mining wastes by 97%.”
The high recycled content helps support efficient (LEED) building project certification.
“For over 50 years, we’ve shown that it is possible to operate profitably while maintaining a focus on sustainability and being responsible stewards of our environment.”
Boutique Retreat Tiny House Hotel
Industrial matters notwithstanding, McMinnville also offers this quirky gem of hospitality: The Boutique Retreat is McMinnville’s collection of nine tiny house cottages, each with its own theme. The website claims, “The tiny house movement created a unique opportunity to develop a cool, eclectic hotel that tempts travelers to think outside the box and try a new and original lodging concept that offers the comforts of home in a cozy cottage.”
Curiously, the proprietors don’t claim credit for introducing visitors to a wonderful sustainable building practice.
There is my sustainability portrait of McMinnville, Oregon. We find (and I will write about) some of these features elsewhere, like paints on a pallet. But this unique picture deserves a fitting title. I choose:
Sustainability in wine country: Practicality with a hint of elegance.
Jon is registered as a professional Mechanical Engineer in the state of California and a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists. He is the author of Our Journey to Sustainability: How Everyday Heroes Make a Difference. His previous book is Our Environmental Handprints: Recover the Land, Reverse Global Warming, Reclaim the Future. Both books can be purchased from on-line booksellers. His website is www.jonbiemer.com.
