2023 Oregon Revised Statutes › Volume : 13 - Housing, Games, Environment › Chapter 459A - Reuse and Recycling › Section 459A.010 - Policy; statewide goals; recovery rates.

(1) It is the policy of the State of Oregon that recovery of material is consistent with the priority of solid waste management set forth in ORS 459.015 (2). It is the goal of the State of Oregon that:
(a) For the calendar year 2009 and subsequent years, there be no annual increase in total general solid waste;
(b) For the calendar year 2020 and subsequent years, the rate of material recovery from the general solid waste stream shall be at least 52 percent;
(c) For the calendar year 2020 and subsequent years, the rate of material recovery of certain materials from the general solid waste stream shall be as follows:
(A) Food waste, at least 25 percent; and
(B) Plastic waste, at least 25 percent;
(d) For the calendar year 2025 and subsequent years, the rate of material recovery of carpet waste from the general solid waste stream shall be at least 25 percent;
(e) For the calendar year 2025 and subsequent years, the rate of material recovery from the general solid waste stream shall be at least 55 percent;
(f) For calendar years 2025 through 2049, total general solid waste generation shall be 15 percent below total general solid waste generation for the calendar year 2012; and
(g) For the calendar year 2050 and subsequent years, total general solid waste generation shall be 40 percent below total general solid waste generation for the calendar year 2012.
(2)(a) The recovery goal for the wasteshed consisting of Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington Counties, in aggregate, shall be to achieve a recovery rate of 64 percent for the calendar year 2025 and subsequent years.
(b) The recovery goals for the following wastesheds shall be to achieve the following recovery rates for the calendar year 2025 and subsequent years:
(A) Baker County, 25 percent;
(B) Benton County, 44 percent;
(C) Clatsop County, 53 percent;
(D) Columbia County, 45 percent;
(E) Coos County, 30 percent;
(F) Crook County, 20 percent;
(G) Curry County, 30 percent;
(H) Deschutes County, 45 percent;
(I) Douglas County, 34 percent;
(J) Gilliam County, 25 percent;
(K) Grant County, 25 percent;
(L) Harney County, 25 percent;
(M) Hood River County, 35 percent;
(N) Jackson County, 25 percent;
(O) Jefferson County, 32 percent;
(P) Josephine County, 20 percent;
(Q) Klamath County, 20 percent;
(R) Lake County, 15 percent;
(S) Lane County, 63 percent;
(T) Lincoln County, 37 percent;
(U) Linn County, 45 percent;
(V) Malheur County, 25 percent;
(W) Marion County, 64 percent;
(X) City of Milton-Freewater, 25 percent;
(Y) Morrow County, 20 percent;
(Z) Polk County, 48 percent;
(AA) Sherman County, 20 percent;
(BB) Tillamook County, 37 percent;
(CC) Umatilla County, 20 percent;
(DD) Union County, 25 percent;
(EE) Wallowa County, 25 percent;
(FF) Wasco County, 35 percent;
(GG) Wheeler County, 20 percent; and
(HH) Yamhill County, 45 percent.
(c) The Environmental Quality Commission may temporarily revise the waste recovery goal for a wasteshed downward if the commission determines that a revision is necessary because reasonably available markets do not exist for one or more high-volume recoverable materials, including but not limited to paper, scrap metal, yard debris, wood, glass, food waste and plastic.
(d) For purposes of providing the opportunity to recycle under ORS 459A.005, the recovery goals provided under this subsection are voluntary and may not be interpreted to authorize the Department of Environmental Quality to require compliance with the goals by a wasteshed.
(e)(A) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this subsection, if the commission or the department initiates efforts to revise the waste recovery goals in this subsection, the department must provide written notice and an opportunity to comment to members of the governing body of each city, county or metropolitan service district within the wastesheds that would be affected by any proposed revisions.
(B) As used in this paragraph, "governing body" means the council, commission, board or other controlling body, however designated, in which the legislative powers of the city, county or metropolitan service district are vested.
(3)(a) Recovery rates under this section shall be calculated by dividing the total weight of material recovered by the sum of the total weight of the material recovered plus the total weight of solid waste disposed that was generated in each wasteshed.
(b) Recovery rates may not include:
(A) Industrial and manufacturing wastes such as boxboard clippings and metal trim that are recycled before becoming part of a product that has entered the wholesale or retail market.
(B) Metal demolition debris for which arrangements are made to sell or give the debris to processors before demolition such that it does not enter the solid waste stream.
(C) Discarded vehicles or parts of vehicles that do not routinely enter the solid waste stream.
(D) Material recovered for composting or energy recovery from mixed solid waste, except as provided in subsection (4) of this section.
(c)(A) In calculating the recovery rates set forth in subsection (2) of this section, commercial, industrial and demolition scrap metal, vehicles, major equipment and home or industrial appliances that are handled or processed for use in manufacturing new products and that do not routinely enter the solid waste stream through land disposal facilities, transfer stations, recycling depots or on-route collection programs may not be counted as material recovery or recycling.
(B) The Department of Environmental Quality shall annually conduct an industry survey to determine the contribution of post-consumer residential scrap metal, including home appliances, to recycling and recovery levels in a manner that prevents double counting of material recovered.
(C) Information collected under the provisions of subparagraph (B) of this paragraph, as it relates specifically to private sector customer lists or specific amounts and types of materials collected or marketed, is confidential and exempt from disclosure under ORS 192.311 to 192.478. The department may use and disclose such information in aggregate form.
(d) As used in this subsection, "solid waste disposed" means the total weight of solid waste disposed other than the following:
(A) Sewage sludge or septic tank and cesspool pumpings;
(B) Waste disposed of at an industrial waste disposal site;
(C) Industrial waste, ash, inert rock, dirt, plaster, asphalt and similar material if delivered to a municipal solid waste disposal site or demolition disposal site and if a record is kept of such deliveries and submitted as part of the annual report submitted under ORS 459A.050;
(D) Waste received at an ash monofill from an energy recovery facility; and
(E) Solid waste not generated within this state.
(4)(a) If there is not a viable market for recycling a material, the composting or burning of the material for energy recovery may be included in the recovery rate for the wasteshed calculated under subsection (3) of this subsection.
(b) If the material is burned for energy recovery and then included in the recovery rate for Clackamas, Multnomah or Washington Counties in aggregate or for Benton, Lane, Linn, Marion, Polk or Yamhill County wastesheds, the same material, when burned as part of mixed solid waste, may be included in the recovery rate for a wasteshed that burns mixed solid waste for energy recovery. The amount of the material within the mixed solid waste that may be included in the recovery rate for energy recovery shall be determined by a waste composition study performed by the wasteshed at least every six years.
(c) Mixtures of materials that are composted or burned for energy recovery may not be included in the recovery rate if more than half of the mixed materials by weight could have been recycled if properly source separated.
(d) In its annual report to the department, the county or metropolitan service district shall state how much composting or energy recovery under this subsection is included as recovery and state the basis for the determination that there was not a viable market for recycling the material.
(e) As used in this subsection, "viable market" means a person located within a wasteshed that will pay for the material or accept the material free of charge or a person located outside a wasteshed that will pay a price for the material that, at minimum, covers the cost of transportation of the material.
(5) As an alternative to achieving the weight-based recovery goals described in this section, wastesheds may achieve outcome-based recovery goals as adopted by the Environmental Quality Commission in accordance with ORS 459A.012. [1991 c.385 §2; 1993 c.560 §74; 1995 c.541 §3; 1997 c.552 §9; 2001 c.513 §2; 2015 c.534 §7]