Portland Recycling: Far West Fibers

Recently my wife and I took on a kitchen remodel. Everything went great, until we were finished and trying to figure out what to do with the pile of old cabinets and countertops. Luckily, right down the street from us is one of Far West Fibers' (4629 SE 17th Avenue, Portland, Oregon, 97202) many Portland area locations where they recycle material that is not normally picked up on the curb.

We had a pile (actually two truck loads) of old cabinets, countertops, and shelving that we had pulled out of the kitchen in preparation for our remodeling project. Most of these cabinets were wooden, torn up, and about 40 years old, so we didn't think anybody was going to be able to reuse them. We didn't really want to take it to the dump, as it seemed like something that could be recycled, but we just weren't sure how.

Far West Fibers' - a Portland recycling company - has locations all over Portland, and the Southeast location was right down the street from where we live.

We called them up and they said they take wood materials (with nails and hardware still in them) at the cost of $60 a ton, and a $5 dollar minimum. If we had taken the material to the dump, it would be $20 dollars a truckload, and we had two truckloads - so a cost of $40 bucks.

When we got to Far West Fibers, an employee directed us to the scale which we drove onto and then we unloaded the old cabinets into a scrap pile. When we were finished, we weighed the truck again and then paid. We ended up spending $20 to recycle the $20 pounds of material.

One of the nice things is that Far West Fibers recycles all sorts of materials. The usuals: paper, plastic, cardboard, bottles and cans. But they also take items like wood or scrap metal. Everything else besides the wood was free - and the reason they charge for wood recycling is because their costs to recycle some of the items they take is more than they can make for the items they can resell - like copper and tin.

It was an easy transaction, and a great solution to our waste problem. Instead of dumping that 600 pounds of material into a dump to rot, it was recycled at a lower cost without any hassle. Recycling in Portland is very popular - made easy by our great curbside recycling programs. But because of places like Far West Fibers - recycling items in Portland that are typically not recycled is a painless process and very easy to do.