Oregon Sea Grant intern Peeta Galicia spent her summer with the city of Yachats estimating the amount of trash from single-use items at Commons events. (City of Yachats photo)By GARRET JAROS/Lincoln Chronicle
YACHATS — Events at the Yachats Commons bring residents and visitors together but they also leave behind mounds of plastic waste that is costing renters and the environment.
To combat the growing problem, Oregon Sea Grant intern Peeta Galicia proposed charging users of the city-owned facility a “marine debris fee” during a presentation to the city council last week. The fee could incentivize event organizers to ditch single-use plastics in favor of the community center’s reusable dishes, shifting the financial burden away from the landfill and toward sustainability.
Galicia, an incoming senior at Oregon State University, spent the summer conducting waste audits and digging through trash at Commons’ events to measure plastic use and identify alternatives.
Peeta Galicia sorted plastic utensils by type from the waste at the volunteer appreciation barbecue hosted by the city. By counting individual items Galicia was able to track how much single-use plastic is used at Commons events. (City of Yachats photo)She found that from June 2025 to June 2026, the venue hosted 87 events, drawing an estimated 10,542 people. With food served at 79 percent of those gatherings, the reliance on disposable items was staggering.
“That’s a lot of people using a lot of single-use items,” Galicia said.
Based on her audits, Galicia projected the events generated roughly 14,110 plates, 7,555 cups and 12,590 forks, knives and spoons. That totals 34,256 single-use items — weighing roughly 522 pounds — most of which will not break down in landfills.
“And this is a big problem, not necessarily just here, but everywhere, because 93 percent of marine debris tends to be beverage and food packaging,” Galicia said.
She also advised against using so-called compostable plastics, noting that local recycling operators such as Dahl Disposal Service cannot process them.
There are so many single use items consistently being used at the Commons, she did an estimated price breakdown – “because 34,000 of anything cannot be cheap,” she said. In fact, it averaged out to $49 per event that served food.
Intern Peeta Galicia laid out waste from a single event, sorting plates, cups, cans, and bottles by category. The event had 40 people and produced 38 pounds of trash. She was able to extrapolate a year of events at the Commons resulted in 522 pounds of trash in single use items like plastic cups, cutlery and paper plates. (City of Yachats photo)Financial incentives
To shift habits, Galicia suggested charging Commons renters a base fee if they bring in outside plastics. However, if they opt to use the plates, cups and cutlery already stocked at the Commons, the fee could be fully discounted.
The financial case for the switch is stark. Renters currently spend an estimated $3,350 annually on disposable plastics for the events. Conversely, Galicia calculated that washing those 34,256 items would cost the city just $26 a year in electricity.
“At the end of the day, you’re creating a better choice for them, for their pocket, and also for everyone’s conscience on marine debris,” Galicia told the council. “Because it is a problem that is going to keep growing.”
City Manager Bobbi Price praised the initiative, noting it aligns with the city council’s goals of being “environmentally friendly in all we do.”
Implementing the system would require some logistical updates. Mayor Craig Berdie pointed out the Commons uses a dish sanitizer rather than a full industrial dishwasher, so staff or volunteers would still need to rinse and wash dishes prior to sanitizing.
Galicia estimated that upgrading the machine with a soap pump would cost about $700. Adding an electric dryer would cost between $4,734 and $15,722, with a nominal annual utility cost of $175.
Berdie asked about the capacity of the industrial dishwasher, wondering how long it would take to wash the dishes for a wedding with 100 guests?
Each cycle takes two minutes, Galicia said. And when she ran the numbers on just sanitizing – “because I only projected for what we have now” – the estimated 14,110 plates from her study would take about an hour.
“I think in terms of eliminating waste, that is not a significant investment for the city,” Berdie said. “But I would want to know if that’s going to work for the users. If it’s going to be functional.”
Yachats summer intern Peeta Galicia created this graphic to illustrate her study of waste prevention and reduction at the Commons. (City of Yachats)- Garret Jaros covers the communities of Yachats, Waldport, south Lincoln County and natural resources issues for Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at [email protected]
Has anyone considered the use of paper cups and plates with reusable utensils. It would cost less to just wash utensils. I don’t know what the cost of paper products would be or about the recycling of paper products. I just noticed that the possibility wasn’t mentioned.
This sounds like a great study and could lead to some positive changes that benefit the environment and help to raise peoples’ levels of awareness about this issue. I do, however, think it is important to calculate the amount of water that would be used in the washing of dishes and cutlery.
water and time.
I think what you’re doing is doing is awesome. I’d like to help in any way possible. No matter it’s donating time to run stuff to the recycle center or helping in other areas. That’s a ton of waste to be a one time use, we should have all bio degradable utensils and containers on the coast. We are a ocean community!
I admire Peeta’s dedication for finding out what the facts are for this situation. That was a lot of digging through trash! Hopefully the City can figure out a system that is practical for the groups to implement. Since the Commons already has dishes and cutlery, upgrading the dishwasher might be the way to go.