Dive Brief:
- Oregon has opened the first of its new recycling dropoff centers as part of the state’s ongoing rollout of its extended producer responsibility for packaging program. The program requires the state to offer these free, producer-funded drop-off sites, dubbed RecycleOn Centers.
- These depots are for residents to drop off what CAA considers “tricky-to-sort materials” that can’t go in curbside recycling but can still be recycled in the state. That includes items such as plastic bags, lids, plastic buckets, shredded paper and foil.
- Circular Action Alliance, the producer responsibility organization that leads Oregon’s program, announced last week it had collaborated with Recology to open the first of the drop-off centers in Ashland, Oregon. By the end of 2027, the state is expected to offer over 140 of these sites across the state.
Dive Insight:
The new EPR for packaging program, launched in July, is the first such program in the country and is meant to overhaul recycling systems for the majority of Oregon residents, focusing on expanding both curbside recycling access and other recycling options.
CAA plans to expand curbside recycling access to more than 150,000 homes and businesses around the state. Oregon has already formalized a list of what materials can be recycled, with separate lists indicating what’s recyclable in a curbside bin and what materials will need to be recycled at specialized locations.
The drop-off recycling sites are meant to be a convenient way to reduce contamination in curbside bins, said Kieran Nashad, a CAA communications specialist, in an email.
Such depots are also required to meet state "convenience standards” under the law, which requires that residents have a “reasonable and equal access” to recycle materials under the EPR program, according to CAA's program plan.
CAA’s goal is for 95% of Oregonians to live within 15 miles of one of these depots, it said. Ultimately, the centers are meant to “deliver real community benefit,” Nashad added.
The RecycleOn depot map currently shows 17 depot locations in the state’s southwest region, with some depots co-located at grocery stores, thrift stores and credit unions. Haulers such as Republic Services have co-located depots at existing transfer stations and recycling facilities.
Getting communities on board with the drop-off centers — and up to speed with other major changes to the state’s recycling systems — requires a coordinated public outreach campaign, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality noted in an email.
That included launching a new RecycleOn awareness campaign and related website meant to explain changes, plus ads that appeared on search engines, on broadcast and cable TV, in podcast commercials and on public radio. Over the summer, the program set up billboards and transit ads concentrated in Oregon’s Willamette Valley and Southern Oregon, DEQ said.
Other campaigns may focus on contamination reduction messaging, as well as encouraging more participation in both curbside recycling and at the new RecycleOn Centers, DEQ said.
