Oregon is on track to become the first state to launch a recycling program that holds businesses financially accountable for the packaging waste they produce. Environmental regulators have completed administrative rules behind the program that rolls out in July, including what materials will be accepted in recycling bins across the state and how much producers need to pay based on the environmental impacts of their packaging.
Oregon is among a handful of states that aim to mirror recycling programs that have existed in Canada and the European Union for decades. Others are California, Colorado, Minnesota and Maine. They鈥檒l be looking to lessons Oregon learns as its program gets off the ground this summer.
Many of these programs are responses to a global recycling disruption that began in 2017, when China 鈥� the world鈥檚 largest importer of recyclables 鈥� stopped accepting several types of waste, including plastics, due to high levels of contamination. 鈥淭hose global disruptions really revealed to people the world of recycling beyond just putting your items in a bin,鈥� said Nicole Portley, who鈥檚 leading Oregon鈥檚 recycling changes for the Department of Environmental Quality. 鈥淲e learned that much of American waste was going abroad, and some of it was being released directly into the environment.鈥�