Portland, Ore. – Oregon is taking an important step forward with the Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act, designed to improve recycling and benefit the environment.

Following a collaborative review process, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality approved the program plan submitted by Circular Action Alliance, making CAA the producer responsibility organization for Oregon’s new extended producer responsibility law for packaging, paper and food serviceware. The program plan describes CAA’s approach to implementing Recycling Modernization Act requirements beginning July 1, 2025. The plan aims to enhance recycling, waste reduction and reuse across the state through several key initiatives, including:

• Providing funding to local governments and recycling service providers for improvements to Oregon’s recycling system;
• Establishing locations around the state to collect harder-to-recycle items;
• Ensuring that collected materials are recycled responsibly;
• Creating educational resources to help people learn about recycling changes and opportunities; and
• Reducing environmental impacts of paper, packaging, and food serviceware through fee incentives and by capitalizing a new waste reduction and reuse program.

The RMA is an update to Oregon’s recycling system that will make it easier for people to recycle by expanding recycling services, upgrading the facilities that sort recyclables, and reducing social and environmental harms, such as plastic pollution. Producers and manufacturers of paper, packaging, and food serviceware will fund these necessary improvements.

“DEQ’s approval of this plan is a significant step towards better recycling in Oregon,” said Scott Keller, Chair of the Oregon Recycling System Advisory Council and Senior Program Manager with the City of Beaverton. “Oregon has led the way in recycling for years, and this law will help us improve even more!”

CAA is a non-profit compliance organization formed to meet the obligations under Oregon’s new extended producer responsibility law for paper, packaging, and food serviceware. CAA’s producer members pay fees based on the amount of paper, packaging, and food serviceware they sell into Oregon, providing the funding to ensure the recycling system delivers desired benefits across the state.

While CAA will begin funding improvements to Oregon’s recycling system next summer, it will take time for those investments to result in changes visible to Oregon residents and businesses. Many enhancements will take place at the facilities and end markets where recycling goes after collection bins are emptied. Changes to recycling services and drop-off locations will be different for each community and will ramp up over the next several years.

As outlined by state law, CAA submitted its first draft of the plan in March 2024, a second draft in September, and the final draft in December. The approved plan reflects several rounds of public comments, review by the Oregon Recycling System Advisory Council, and feedback from DEQ experts.

“By approving this plan, DEQ endorses the new PRO, Circular Action Alliance. We worked closely with CAA during the development of the program plan and we look forward to continuing to work with them and all the program partners to ensure the requirements of the Recycling Modernization Act are met as we build Oregon’s new recycling system together,” said Nicole Portley, DEQ Materials Management PRO program plan lead.

DEQ will oversee CAA’s implementation of the approved plan and will assist local governments and recycling service providers as they work together to bring essential and positive changes to Oregon's recycling system.

The Recycling Modernization Act joins several other established extended producer responsibility programs facilitated by DEQ, including Oregon E-Cycles and a paint product stewardship program.

CAA has been selected as the compliance organization in several other states that have also passed extended producer responsibility laws for packaging, including California, Colorado, Maryland, and Minnesota. Oregon is the first state with an approved program plan and will be the first to launch an extended producer responsibility program for packaging and paper.

For more information

View the DEQ website for more information about the Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act. To get the latest updates, sign up for our email list through GovDelivery.

Media contact: Katie Romano, DEQ Materials Management, 503-875-7915, kaitlin.romano@deq.oregon.gov.

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