Oregon launches statewide recycling system

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Local and out-of-state businesses with global revenues of $5 million or more will need to pay those producer fees to help pay for recycling services, like helping local hauling companies purchase new trucks and recycling bins. Funds will also help local governments administer the program and educate ratepayers about what is or isn’t recyclable.

This new recycling system came out of legislation passed in 2021. That law was a response to a global recycling disruption that began in 2017, when China — the world’s largest importer of recyclables — stopped accepting several types of waste due to high levels of contamination.

Since then, more domestic companies have cropped up to fulfill the nation’s demand for a place to recycle their trash, particularly plastics — according to Kim Holmes, executive director of Circular Action Alliance, the nonprofit charged with collecting and administering producer fees.

“There is no struggle in finding end markets,” Holmes said. “We have homes for all of the materials we currently have.”

The law requires recyclables to go to “responsible end markets” — that is, businesses that recycle materials in a way that doesn’t have major environmental or public health consequences. The statewide recycling list is based on materials that have such end markets.