Metro presents 20-year regional facilities plan; proposes converting Metro South to community drop-off depot, estimates $273 million cost

Metro officials briefed the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners on March 18 on a draft 20-year Regional System Facilities Plan that lays out a strategy to expand public recycling, reuse and waste-transfer capacity across the Portland metro region.

Metro’s waste prevention and environmental services director, Martha McGuire, told commissioners the plan responds to an aging system and uneven access to services: "This is a 20 year plan" that aims to improve access to affordable drop-off locations and reduce waste sent to landfill, including changes at facilities located in Clackamas County such as Metro South.

The draft plan proposes four investment areas: community drop-off depots, reuse and repair facilities, organics processing and upgrades to commercial transfer stations. SD Siegel, a principal planner at Metro, summarized the approach: "The draft plan . . . aims to enhance public and commercial facilities, food waste processing and support reuse and repair organizations over the next 20 years." Metro’s modeling envisions six community depots distributed to reduce drive times and expand access in under-served areas.

Metro said it would repurpose, over time, its two commercial transfer stations to focus on services that private haulers struggle to provide — notably self-haul residential customers and organic transfer services. That includes a proposed conversion of Metro South (a public transfer station in Oregon City) to a community drop-off depot. McGuire described Metro South’s constraints and history: the site opened in 1983 and "originally wasn't…