Statewide Legislative Priorities

 

​Enhanced Manufacturer Responsibility
 

A greater share of environmental costs, including the costs of product disposal, should  be accounted for in our manufacturing and commercial processes instead of having these problems and their costs mostly passed on to governments and local communities to solve.  
 

Single-use Plastics and Packaging:
  

• Plastics make up more than 20 percent of the waste stream going into Oregon landfills. 

• Pacific coast states -- Washington, Oregon and California spend more than $500 million annually cleaning plastic debris from beaches and watersheds. 

• In 2018, more than 10,000 tons of Oregon recycling was dumped into landfills, in part, due to contamination from non-recyclable plastics.  
   

Oregon Recycling and Plastic Pollution Reduction Act​ (2021)
 

Proposed statewide law based on Recology ballot initiative to reduce single use plastic and increase recycling of plastic materials sold in Oregon. Will require producers of single-use packaging and foodware products to take the following steps:

 

• Transition to reusable, refillable, recyclable, or compostable packaging and foodware by 2030;

• Require producers to use recycled content and renewable materials;

• Establish mechanisms for consumers to recycle, including take-back programs;

• establish and enforce labeling standards that support proper sorting of discarded items;  

• ban the use of polystyrene food containers by food vendors; and

• establish a Plastic Pollution Reduction Fee on producers of all single-use plastic packaging and single-use plastic foodware of no more than $0.01 per item.
   

Other policies

Oregon Mattress Stewardship Program SB1564 (2020) - More than 18 million mattresses are thrown into landfills each year in the United States.  The Oregon Mattress Stewardship program would establish a program to collect and dispose of mattresses

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* Note:  The Oregon Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Acts described below also include forms of enhanced manufacturer responsibility. 

Climate Policy:  Landfill & Waste Disposal Emissions

Oregon landfills and waste disposal facilities are 8 of the state's 30 largest industrial emitters of greenhouse gases.   

 

For landfills, this is primarily due to the large amount of organic materials such as food waste, wood pulp and other organic debris being land-filled rather than recovered for other uses.  Zero Waste Oregon supports public policies that hold manufacturers accountable for environmental costs associated with the manufacturing and disposal of products, especially those sold in Oregon

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​Climate Policy

 

Oregon Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Acts SB 1530, HB 4159 (2020) These proposals seek to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions by assessing a tax on industrial and fossil fuel emissions. 

 

The main provisions relating to solid waste disposal require Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality to establish rules that are "at least as stringent as the most stringent standards and requirements for reducing methane gas emissions from landfills adopted among the states having a boundary with Oregon."

(editor’s note:  I do not expect either climate bill to pass in the short session because Betsy Johnson, the 18th vote they need, said she opposes it on 2/19.)

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Organic Waste 

 

Oregon solid waste short term emissions reduction act (2021):  Based on CA SB 1383 (2016). Bill would require DEQ to adopt policies to reduce food waste and agricultural materials going to landfills; methane emissions from landfills and other sources.

 

Oregon product labeling and food waste reduction act (2021):  Based on WA HB 2651 (2019) Seeks to reduce food waste by standardizing labels communicating freshness versus expiration dates for food. 

 

Oregon agricultural amendment carbon reduction pilot study (2021):  This is a placeholder for biochar, black soldier fly biowaste processing concept or other similar ideas.
 

Other policies

[OPPOSE] Tax credits for solid waste incineration HB4049 (2020):  Zero Waste Oregon opposes a current bill that would make the Covanta Solid Waste Incineration facility, one of Oregon's biggest  industrial poilluters, eligible for subsidies intended for environmentally-friendly projects. 

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