Oregon rules on what is recyclable and what’s not
In addition to standardizing what can be collected curbside and through special programs, the new rules define “responsible” end markets and require PROs to manage materials accordingly.
By Megan Quinn, Waste Dive
Oregon’s Environmental Quality Commission has adopted a statewide list of items accepted for recycling and defined “responsible end markets” for such materials. These are major steps in implementing the state’s sweeping extended producer responsibility for packaging law passed in 2021.
The commission, a rulemaking board of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, also approved numerous other rules related to the EPR law, known as the Recycling Modernization Act, on Nov. 16. Many of these rules, such as obligations for producer responsibility organizations and collection targets for specific materials, go into effect in 2025 or later.
DEQ still has plenty to do before the law can be fully implemented. A future round of rulemaking in 2024 will determine more details such as how to establish a “livable wage” for MRF employees and how to determine new operating and performance requirements for MRFs, among other details.
Oregon DEQ has been hashing out details of how to implement the state’s multifaceted EPR law since 2022. The law calls for most packaging producers to become members of a producer responsibility organization by 2025. Local governments will be able to use producer funding for improvements such as collection services and facility upgrades.
One part of the law is to create a statewide list of materials accepted for recycling, which is meant to reduce confusion about what can and cannot be recycled, DEQ has said. The approved list has several parts: One is comprised of items that local governments must collect, either through collection routes or at depots, while another part indicates the types of items for which producer responsibility organizations will need to arrange separate collection strategies. Some of the items on these sub-lists are allowed to be collected commingled.
The list was finalized after months of stakeholder meetings and hundreds of public comment submissions. Items that local governments will be required to collect curbside or at collection depots include cardboard, aluminum cans, most kinds of plastic bottles and tubs, and steel cans. The list also includes scrap metal, polycoated cartons, molded pulp packaging, and other items.
PROs will be required to provide separate recycling services for some other types of items, such as aerosol packaging, blocks of white expanded polystyrene foam, larger HDPE pails, PE film, and single-use liquid fuel canisters.
PROs will be able to suggest other materials to be added to these lists as part of the program plan. PROs will need to provide evidence that proposed materials meet the requirements of the law, or it could show how a PRO’s investment or other actions could help that material meet the requirements, said David Allaway, senior policy analyst with Oregon DEQ.
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