With a grant from Metro, the Community Cycling Center studied the cultural and socioeconomic barriers to bicycling in some of Portland’s poorer neighborhoods. Now, the center is using the study’s findings to leverage additional funding and roll through barriers to riding a bike.

Got holiday stuff to recycle? From trees to old TVs, learn what to do with what’s left behind.

Residents with curbside service for yard debris can add their Christmas trees, wreath and swag, too. Remember to remove all lights, wire, tinsel, ornaments, nails, stands and other materials. Another option? Let a scout troop, school group or service club collect the tree as part of its fundraising program. For a small fee or donation, organizations will collect trees, along with wreaths, the first weekend of the year. Some will continue recycling them the following week. Call Metro Recycling Information at 503-234-3000 or check online for the nearest options.

Find a recycler  

Packing peanuts aren’t recyclable curbside, but folks can take clean, dry packing peanuts to a shipping store for reuse. Some locations also may accept bubble wrap and sheets of packing foam. Block foam isn’t recyclable curbside, but a handful of businesses accept polystyrene block foam marked '6' inside the recycling symbol. Another possibility? Save the materials for your next big packing project. Call Metro’s recycling hotline or search the online directory for more details on local options.

Search online

Making the switch to energy-saving LED holiday lights? Throughout its winter ZooLights festival, the Oregon Zoo is collecting old incandescent lights for recycling. Zoo visitors who drop off their old holiday light strings by Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012, will get a coupon for free fudge at the Zoo Store.

Learn more 

Consider donating excess food to a local food bank, shelter or other charitable organization that can accept it. For leftover food scraps, don’t forget to compost. With minimal equipment such as a compost bin, it's easy to turn trimmings into a garden-boosting soil amendment. Plus, Portland residents can now toss kitchen scraps – including fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy – into their green roll cart for curbside pickup. To learn more about waste-free holiday meals, visit Metro's news page.

Visit Metro News

To learn which electronics recyclers take mice, keyboards and printers, cell phones, VCRs, DVD players, fax machines or handheld devices, call Metro’s recycling hotline at 503-234-3000. Another option? Offer still-good electronics to friends or relatives who can use them. Oregon E-Cycles, a statewide industry program that collects computers, monitors and televisions for recycling, makes it even easier to keep valuable materials out of the landfill. For free recycling locations in the Oregon E-Cycles program, call 1-888-5-ECYCLE (888-532-9253) or visit the website.

Learn about Oregon E-cycles

From garbage and old furniture discarded in an alley to tires and rusted drums piled in a public park, it’s easy to spot an illegal dump. Metro's Regional Illegal Dumping Patrol partners with local governments including law enforcement to help clean up illegal dumps on public property. To report an illegal dump site in Multnomah, Clackamas or Washington county, call RID Patrol at 503-234-3000 or visit the website.

Learn about the RID Patrol 

Of course, Metro also has the scoop on what kinds of packaging and gift wrap are recyclable, where to take other items that residents can’t recycle at the curb and how to maximize reuse options. Call Metro’s recycling hotline for details, or get waste-wise ideas online.

Learn more at Metro's site

Making headway on that holiday list? Hold the foil-coated wrapping paper! Metro’s eco-friendly tips make it easy to go green while wowing everyone on your gift list.

Obsessing about the potential environmental impacts of every single product you might buy? David Allaway, a senior policy analyst at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, wants you to stop that.

With the recent adoption of its first-ever green building policy, Metro has set new sustainability standards for all the agency’s facilities and developed properties, from regional parks, solid waste transfer stations and the Oregon Zoo to venues such as the Portland Expo Center and Oregon Convention Center.

What's all this buzz about TriMet's new trip tool, the Portland Regional Trip Planner? Unlike existing tools, the new Trip Planner lets you to plan trips combining transit, bike and walking in a single itinerary.

Metro's Nature University is a 12-week training course that starts people along the path of becoming naturalists and teachers. Students are introduced to time-honored techniques of nature observation and principles of discovery learning, and learn about common wildlife and plants, the ecology of wetlands and ancient forests, and effective teaching techniques.

The Sunday Parkways season wraps up the year by rolling into Northeast Portland on Sunday, Sept. 25. Unlike previous Sunday Parkways events this year, the Northeast Portland event will run from noon to 5 p.m.

Walkers, bikers, joggers and skaters will take to the streets in place of cars along an eight-mile route for the afternoon. The route will have two loops, connecting Woodlawn, Alberta and Fernhill parks, plus Rigler School and Cully Boulevard.