Oregon's rulemaking 3 would cut PRO glass duties and could trim the $0.10 a pound fee. Comments close 30 October

How Oregon's producer-funded recycling system works

Oregon’s Recycling Modernization Act became law in 2021 and took effect on 1 January 2022, according to DEQ’s producer obligations summary cited in SPI’s tracker record PR-US-002. It makes producers of packaging, printing and writing paper and food serviceware fund much of the residential recycling system through a PRO.

DEQ approved CAA’s programme plan for 2025 to 2027 on 21 February 2025, covered producers have had to register with an approved PRO from 2025 onward, and CAA could start charging fees on 1 July 2025, DEQ’s Producers of Covered Products page says. The page states that CAA sets fee rates, that they “will change annually”, and that failing to join a PRO is a Class 1 violation with fines of up to $25,000 a day.

Fees run on supply data. From 31 May 2026, producers owe CAA their prior-year supply data by 31 May each year, and DEQ notes that fee deadlines are internal to CAA⁶. SPI’s tracker record notes that the 2025 data filed this year set 2027 fees.

Fees are also modulated. DEQ approved CAA’s ecomodulation amendment on 12 September 2025 and, in its approval letter, directed that the Tier 2 and Tier 3 bonus multipliers rise from 2.25 and 2.5 to 2.5 and 3.0. A private recycling exemption lets producers deduct material recycled outside the commingled system, applied to the next year’s invoices.

DEQ writes the operating rules in Oregon Administrative Rules (OAR) division 340-090. Rulemaking 3 is the third round of amendments since the first rules of 2023, which DEQ’s notice says were updated in 2024. It runs from September 2025 to early 2027, with an 11-member advisory committee that met five times between November 2025 and July 2026.

“Proposed rules only become effective if the Environmental Quality Commission adopts them.” Oregon DEQ, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 21 September 2026

What has happened since the notice of 21 September

October 2025: exemption requests. DEQ’s exemptions page shows it took requests for new covered product exemptions from 1 to 31 October 2025 and presented a rule concept to the advisory committee on 27 January 2026⁷. Those requests fed the exemptions now proposed.

April 2026: glass loses its special status. CAA’s cover letter of 1 September 2026 says DEQ removed the “Specifically Identified Material” designation for glass and shredded paper on 1 April 2026. DEQ’s glass collection technical workgroup met on 15 and 28 April 2026, the rulemaking page shows. A second workgroup, on what counts as effectively composted, met on 26 January and 17 February 2026.

November 2025 to July 2026: the advisory committee. The 11-member committee met on 13 November 2025 and on 27 January, 30 March, 27 May and 20 July 2026, the rulemaking page shows¹. Its fifth meeting took topic papers on convenience standards, transport cost reimbursement, multifamily service and DEQ’s draft fiscal and economic impact statement.

11 September 2026: temporary glass rules. The Environmental Quality Commission listed “Recycling Modernization Act Temporary Rulemaking” as action item G on 11 September 2026, its meeting page shows⁵. DEQ’s notice says the commission adopted temporary rules in September 2026, identical to the proposed permanent glass rules.

21 September: the notice is published. DEQ’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, titled “Recycling Modernization Act Rulemaking 3 (2026)”, is dated 21 September 2026 and opened 39 days of comment to 30 October, by SPI’s calculation. Two sets of draft rules sit beside it on the rulemaking page, one with edits highlighted and one with edits incorporated.

20 and 21 October: hearings. The first hearing ran on 20 October at 10 a.m. and the second starts on 21 October at 6 p.m., both by Zoom or toll-free phone with no pre-registration, the rulemaking page says¹. SPI has not yet confirmed who testified at the first hearing.

Next: 30 October and 14 January. DEQ says it will consider only comments received by 4 p.m. on 30 October, sent by email to RMARulemaking3@deq.oregon.gov, by post or as hearing testimony. It intends to submit the rules to the commission on or after 14 January 2027, and its rulemaking page targets adoption in January or February 2027.

“DEQ will only consider comments on the proposed rules that DEQ receives by 4 p.m., on Oct. 30, 2026.” Oregon DEQ, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 21 September 2026

What the proposed rules would change

The notice summarises changes across more than 20 rules in OAR divisions 340-012, 340-090, 340-093, 340-096 and 340-097. The table sets out the items with the clearest cost effect for producers, the PRO and service providers, in DEQ’s words where the notice is specific.

Glass. The notice says the glass amendment would cut the PRO’s obligations and its operating costs, reflected in “a significantly lower per-pound fee paid by the producers of glass packaging, starting in 2027”. It frames this as a possible partial reduction of the 2026 rate of $0.10 a pound in 2027, with further reductions for 2028, and notes that CAA’s board sets fees, not DEQ.

Depots. The incorporated draft of OAR 340-090-0630 keeps glass bottles and jars on the PRO list, but from 1 July 2027 only in the wastesheds identified in subsection (4)(c), where the listed materials “must be collected at depots”³. That date falls six months after the earliest submission date to the commission.

Exemptions. The notice proposes exempting leased reusable plastic containers, four formats of industrial-only specialty packaging including gaylords of 33.8 ft3, the standard size, or larger, and “Film and flexible plastic packaging used in direct contact with raw meat, excluding trays.” The raw-meat exemption is proposed to expire in 2032. SPI has not yet confirmed the exemption wording in the draft rule text itself.

Remelters. Draft OAR 340-090-0670(3)(e) says self-attestation, disposition reporting and a related checking step for facilities that remelt loose scrap metal from Oregon, and take no Oregon-origin baled material, “are not required until January 1, 2033.” In effect, these remelters are exempt from that checking step through 2032.

Plan calendar. Draft OAR 340-090-0720 says the first set of updated plans will run from 1 January 2028 to 31 December 2032. The current CAA plan covers 2025 to 2027, so the next plan is the first five-year one.

Acceptance lists. The notice’s summary of OAR 340-090-0630 lists changes for disinfectant containers, automotive fluids such as diesel exhaust fluid and washer fluid, aerosols and cylinders, paint containers, PET colours, shredded paper, spray caps and scrap metal. The incorporated draft adds pressurised cylinders to the PRO list from 1 January 2030³.

Multifamily and payments. For OAR 340-090-0030, the notice says tenants are clarified as customers and compliance with the adequate-space rule for multifamily recycling is delayed by two years. Under OAR 340-090-0770 and 0820, transport reimbursement is aligned with consolidation points and tip fees, and the processor commodity risk fee gets a new reporting schedule, with no funding for stockpiled material.

Producers and life cycle rules. OAR 340-090-0860 changes producer definitions, covering fee obligation trading, “remote sale”, “consumer” and manufacturer wording. The life cycle rules in OAR 340-090-0900 to 0930 add a SKU “batch” concept and core product category rules, which matters to the 25 largest producers whose first evaluations fall due by 31 December 2026, DEQ’s producer page says.

The private recycling exemption shows how much tonnage an exemption route can move. DEQ’s exemptions page lists 2025 pooled volumes used in the 2026 exemption process, led by tertiary corrugated cardboard⁷.

Who gains and who pays from glass to compost

Glass packaging producers. They paid $0.10 a pound in 2026, the notice says, and stand to gain most if CAA’s board passes on the PRO’s lower glass costs from 2027. DEQ’s notice does not put a figure on the 2027 rate. CAA’s 2027 Oregon fee schedule, published on 1 October 2026, sets glass bottles and jars at a $0.04 a pound base rate and a $0.00 final rate after reserve drawdowns.

Local governments that collect glass. They lose the current incentive paid to councils running glass collection. CAA’s plan already says “Requests for new trucks and carts for curbside collection of glass are not being scheduled”, and offers instead an incentive equal to the cost of managing glass at depots⁹.

Residents. The notice expects about 25 cents a month in costs to shift to residential customers who pay for recycling or garbage service. That is $3 a year for each household account, by SPI’s calculation, and the notice says smaller and more remote communities may stop on-route glass collection.

Reuse and industrial packaging. Leasing businesses for reusable plastic crates and users of gaylords of 33.8 ft3 or more would drop out of the fee base. The notice does not count the firms or tonnage involved.

Meat packers and their film suppliers. Raw-meat film, excluding trays, is exempt until 2032 under the proposal, which removes that film from producer reports until the exemption expires.

Composters. About 50 Oregon composting facilities, likely small businesses under DEQ’s 50-employee test, would carry data-collection costs to support submissions on which packaging is effectively composted.

Remelters. Fewer than 10 Oregon facilities that remelt loose shredder metal avoid about five years of costs, the notice says.

Paper producers. Shredded paper lost its special designation alongside glass on 1 April 2026, CAA’s letter says, and the notice lists shredded paper among the acceptance list changes. Shredded paper also made up 12,703 tons of the pooled private recycling volumes on DEQ’s exemptions page.

Circular Action Alliance and its members. CAA reported 2,909 producer-members registered in 2025. Its plan’s Table 1 shows local government expansion funding of $3,340,476 in 2025, $19,103,118 in 2026 and $59,081,910 in 2027, a total of $81,525,504.

The fee-timing problem behind the 2027 invoices

The package arrives late in the 2027 fee cycle. Producers filed their 2025 supply data by 31 May 2026, and those data set 2027 fees, yet the commission vote cannot come before 14 January 2027 under DEQ’s notice. CAA’s letter of 1 September says it expects the rule changes to take effect in 2028, after its 2027 supply reporting window.

The temporary rules bridge part of that gap. The commission adopted glass rules on a temporary basis in September 2026, identical to the proposed permanent rules, so the glass change can be planned into 2027 while the permanent text is still out for comment.

The funding curve is the second constraint. CAA’s Table 1 puts $59.1 million of local government expansion funding in 2027, against $19.1 million in 2026. DEQ’s answer is to stretch the investment timeline, and its notice cites larger capital assets and sorting equipment for 2028 performance standards as the cost drivers.

DEQ carries costs of its own. The notice says its programme staff spent about 120 hours in total on the rulemaking tasks in 2025 and 2026, and that some changes bring higher short-term costs for DEQ for about four years.

The third constraint is service. If remote councils drop on-route glass after the incentive ends, collection shifts to depots from 1 July 2027 in the listed wastesheds, and DEQ’s notice expects those communities to be more rural or farther from glass end markets.

How Oregon compares with Washington, Minnesota and Colorado

Oregon is amending live operating rules this autumn, while Washington and Minnesota are setting the cost baselines that later reimbursement will rest on. Washington Ecology’s needs-assessments page says its draft preliminary needs assessment takes comments from 1 to 30 October 2026, the same closing day as Oregon¹³. SPI covered that process in Washington’s needs assessment comments.

Minnesota’s draft 2026 needs assessment takes comments through 13 November, and the PRO must cover at least 90% of costs by 2031, MPCA’s programme page says¹⁴. SPI set out the detail in Minnesota’s EPR needs assessment.

Colorado is furthest along on cost. CDPHE’s programme page says the executive director approved CAA’s plan in December 2025, that CAA “will reimburse local governments for all net recycling costs”, and that producer dues fell due in January 2026¹⁵. The Glass Packaging Institute says Colorado’s glass fees are one-third of Oregon’s.

The plan cycles line up in 2028. Draft OAR 340-090-0720 opens Oregon’s next plan window on 1 January 2028, and SPI’s earlier reporting shows Washington’s and Minnesota’s PRO plans both due on 1 October 2028. For producers, that makes 2028 the year when three state plans are set or reset within ten months, by SPI’s calculation.