Oregon officials are set for a busy implementation schedule in 2025 now that the Environmental Quality Commission has adopted the final set of rules for the Recycling Modernization Act, the state’s multifaceted extended producer responsibility law for packaging.
Oregon’s Environmental Quality Commission passed the second and final set of EPR for packaging rules in late November. The sweeping EPR law calls for numerous statewide recycling improvements. The rules finalized in November include new operating and performance requirements for MRFs, which include new permitting and fee details, as well as details on providing a “living wage” for recycling facility workers.
The latest round of rules also covered numerous other details such as adding exemptions for some types of products and calculating costs the PRO will need to pay recyclers or municipalities.
Oregon DEQ has been hashing out details of how to implement the EPR law since it first passed in 2021. The first set of rules, approved in November 2023, sorted out what would be included in statewide recycling acceptance lists and hammered out details for how recycled commodities would be sold into “responsible” end markets. It also set forth responsibilities for the state’s producer responsibility organization, Circular Action Alliance.
Under the law, most packaging producers must become members of the PRO. Local governments will be able to use producer funding for improvements such as collection services and facility upgrades. The new program will begin rolling out on July 1, 2025, and DEQ expects most of the planned improvements to be complete by the end of 2027.
“Preparations are beginning in earnest now,” said Katie Romano, a materials management outreach specialist for the agency, in an email.
New MRF rules and responsibilities
One DEQ priority in 2025 is to develop the forms and procedures for the new MRF permit and registration program outlined in the final rules. Romano said this new system is a part of the state’s overall work to minimize contamination in material streams and make recycling operations more transparent, “ensuring that materials are actually recycled at end markets and in an environmentally beneficial way,” she said. Permitted and certified MRFs will need to meet new capture rates and contamination standards, according to DEQ rules.
Under the new rules, in-state MRFs — known as “commingled recycling processing facilities” — will pay a registration and application fee of between $100 and $500 depending on how many tons the MRF receives each year. An annual compliance fee will be between $50 and $1,000.
Recycling facilities will also need to pay workers a “living wage” based on a rate set by the county where it operates. Workers will also be entitled to “supportive benefits” including health insurance and paid sick leave and vacation time, as well as disability and life insurance.
DEQ says it does not anticipate these permitting, wage and benefit requirements will negatively affect MRF budgets and operations because such costs can be covered through a new Processor Commodity Risk Fee that the PRO must pay to MRFs.
That fee, which is designed to ensure producers “are sharing in the costs of fully processing commingled recyclable material,” is a per-ton rate based on calculating “eligible tons” of recyclables minus the average commodity values DEQ sets on a monthly basis. That rate will start at $200 in 2025, according to the rules. The PRO will also have to pay MRFs a contamination management fee, which starts at $341 for 2025 and 2026.
The PRO must also pay up to $15 million a year, or 10% of the three-year average of PRO expenditures, to fund projects focused on reduction and reuse efforts. DEQ is working to develop a new grant program funded by that new waste prevention and reuse fee.
What’s next for implementation
Now that the EPR law rules are finalized, DEQ has several other Recycling Modernization Act priorities for 2025. The department is in the process of reviewing the final draft of Circular Action Alliance’s program plan, a required document that outlines how the PRO will comply with the EPR law. CAA has submitted three total drafts of the plan throughout the year, and DEQ expects to complete the latest review in February, Romano said.
DEQ is also getting ready for next summer, when local governments will begin a “rolling launch” of collecting items on the state’s new Uniform Statewide Collection List, a list meant to reduce confusion about what is and isn’t accepted for recycling in the state.
Around that same time, producer funding is expected to begin “flowing toward needed collection infrastructure at the municipal level,” she said. Local governments and the service providers they use are in the process of determining which entities will be able to use PRO funding for such projects, she said.
Other states have also met similar EPR rulemaking milestones this year. Maine finalized its EPR rules earlier this month, which hammered out numerous metrics and fees. California, Colorado and Minnesota also have EPR for packaging laws in progress.
This story first appeared in the Waste Dive: Recycling newsletter. Sign up for the weekly emails here.
