Oregon
Farm groups oppose Oregon recycling fees with ‘no public oversight’ | Capital Press
Farm groups oppose Oregon recycling fees with ‘no public oversight’
Published 8:00 am Friday, June 12, 2026
Agriculture groups claim an Oregon program meant to increase recycling of product packaging is eating into farm profits and want state regulators to suspend its enforcement.
Lawmakers passed the state’s “Recycling Modernization Act” in 2021 but it only became effective last year and critics argue its implementation has been “lackluster.”
Certain growers and other product producers are required to raise money through fees to ensure their packaging materials are recycled under the program.
But the Oregon Farm Bureau and the Oregonians for Food and Shelter agribusiness group argue the fees are set by a “third-party entity” using a “confidential, proprietary methodology” with “no government accountability.”
“There’s no public oversight over who is getting charged how much, or what the overall budget should be,” said Katie Murray, executive director of Oregonians for Food and Shelter. “It’s not how our members should be paying into a regulatory program.”
A designated “producer responsibility organization” — the Circular Action Alliance nonprofit — sets the fee formula, which lacks transparency and doesn’t protect farmers from “arbitrary or unrecoverable costs,” according to the agriculture groups.
A representative of the Circular Action Alliance was not available for comment as of press time.
Farmers who pack their own crops, such as berries, are subject to the fees directly, but they also may end up paying more for inputs, such as pesticides, whose manufacturers are also subject to the fees, Murray said.
“Growers are going to get hit from multiple directions for multiple stacked-up fees from this program,” she said.
Proponents of the Recycling Modernization Act, which passed as Senate Bill 582 five years ago, argued that it’s an extension of the same approach that Oregon uses for recycling cans and bottles, which also initially faced resistance but has since been widely embraced.
“Polls show that our constituents support recycling and are not happy with the current status,” said former Sen. Lee Beyer, D-Springfield. “They don’t like the idea of their recycling going into the dump. This bill begins to address those concerns.”
The program’s opponents counter that farmers oftentimes already contribute to recycling efforts, such as with clamshell containers for berries that incorporate recycled materials, so the fees are duplicative of those efforts.
“The fees could exceed what the average berry farmer earns in a year, putting some farms at risk of closure and driving up food costs for Oregon families,” said Lauren Kuenzi, government and political affairs director for the Oregon Farm Bureau, during a legislative hearing earlier this year.
Farm groups asked lawmakers to exempt certain packaging for berries and meat from the fees earlier this year, which was opposed by the program’s supporters, who argued it would saddle other manufacturers with higher costs.
That proposed exemption, House Bill 4030, was approved by the House Climate, Energy and Environment Committee but ended up dying in the House Rules Committee earlier this year.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors filed a lawsuit against the program last year and in February won an injunction blocking Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality from enforcing the program against its members.
A federal judge approved that preliminary injunction after finding the lawsuit raised “serious questions” about the merits of the plaintiff’s arguments and determining there’s a “likelihood of irreparable injury” from the program.
A five-day trial in the case is scheduled for July 13, so critics want Oregon regulators to “pause” its enforcement more broadly at least until the matter of the program’s legality is cleared up.
“Place the program on hold until the courts can make a ruling,” Murray said.
Oregon
National report: Oregon great for giving kids health insurance, bad for teaching them how to read
The Annie E. Casey Foundation releases the Kids Count Data Book annually, with its new 2026 edition mainly drawing on data from 2024. State-based organizations work with the Annie E. Casey Foundation on the report, including Our Children Oregon and the Children’s Alliance in Washington.
The report is a snapshot in time of how well the country is supporting its youngest residents in 16 different indicators, including percentage of children living in poverty, kids who lack health insurance and reading proficiency among fourth graders.
David Wieland, policy and advocacy director for Our Children Oregon, said all of the indicators are related and play a role in a child’s well-being.
“We can’t just say that we’ll address reading outcomes through the educational system,” Wieland said. “We actually need to look holistically at child well-being if we want to really improve any one of these single indicators.”
Oregon lags behind the vast majority of states when it comes to educational indicators, ranked at 44 of 50 states. At 31, Washington ranks a bit higher.
But outside of the classroom, the two states fare better. Both Oregon and Washington are in the top 10 of states in health and community indicators.
“These are often the result of policy choices that we make,” Wieland said. “Oregon has prioritized ensuring that children — we should celebrate that.”
But federal changes may hurt states’ progress.
As Children’s Alliance in Washington state mentions in their press release sharing the Kids Count Data, “The numbers do not reflect the current reality for kids and families impacted by federal cuts to vital programs that have already come into effect.”
One policy choice Oregon made allows students to opt out of standardized testing. As a result, Oregon’s testing participation rates are below 95%, the federal requirement.
Wieland said this policy makes Oregon’s outcomes “less reliable.”
“We simply know with less certainty how we compare,” Wieland said.
In addition to rankings, the report calculates index scores for each state, allowing year-over-year comparisons. Both Oregon and Washington’s scores declined compared to their pre-pandemic scores from 2019, and so have the index scores in 45 other states. Only Mississippi and Louisiana saw improvements. South Carolina stayed stable.
Looking Ahead
Through Oregon’s Early Literacy Success Initiative, the state has sent grants to school districts to help improve reading and provide more support for students in elementary school. But it may be a while before those investments show improvement in reports like the Kids Count Data Book, said Our Children Oregon executive director Bridget Dazey.
“We do have to be patient as the state and school districts try new things,” Dazey said. “At the same time, we can confidently say we’re underinvesting in students and so it shouldn’t be so delayed that we wait five to seven years to see how things start to shape up.”
Going forward, Dazey said her organization is working with a coalition of organizations on the next edition of the group’s Children’s Agenda, a list of legislative priorities for lawmakers. Dazey said the state also needs a vision that looks out beyond the legislature’s two-year budget cycle that school districts use to plan spending.
“We need to be thinking long term,” Dazey said. “Our state has gotten really comfortable with thinking about things in the biennium.”
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
The Oregon Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at July 6, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from July 6 drawing
17-44-63-66-67, Powerball: 04, Power Play: 2
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 4 numbers from July 6 drawing
1PM: 8-8-0-7
4PM: 4-2-9-2
7PM: 8-2-5-5
10PM: 7-7-2-2
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Win for Life numbers from July 6 drawing
18-28-41-70
Check Win for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Megabucks numbers from July 6 drawing
14-19-20-21-25-38
Check Megabucks payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Oregon Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 7:59 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 7:59 p.m. on Tuesday and Friday.
- Pick 4: 1 p.m., 4 p.m., 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. daily.
- Win for Life: 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Megabucks: 7:29 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by an Oregon editor. You can send feedback using this form.
If you headed to the lake early last week, you missed the best fireworks. Dan Lanning and his staff put on a cup of coffee and closed like the Wolf of Wall Street. Minus the cocaine, probably.
All jokes aside, and believe me, these are jokes, the recruiting this staff is doing is not a joke. From June 28 to July 3, a span of 6 days Oregon added four new commitments and all were four stars or better. If you weren’t paying attention, Oregon landed 12 commits in the months of June and what we’ve had in July so far.
The recruiting class has surged from the teens to No. 9 to start last week to No. 3 overall by Friday afternoon. Only Texas A&M and Notre Dame have better recruiting classes according to Rivals. Oregon has the best class in the Big Ten conference.
The 24 commits sit at an average rating of 90.76 according to Rivals. Additionally 16 of the 24 commits are ranked four-stars or better and that includes the Ducks having a pair of 5-Star commitments. Oregon has 11 defensive commits, 11 offensive commits and 2 listed as athletes.
Up next is a commitment from four-star linebacker Brayton Feister set for Saturday, July 11. I don’t believe that addition will move Oregon up in the rankings but will strengthen their current position.
With five-star wide receiver Xavier Sabb committing, Oregon now has a commitment from 17 different states. Should Feister from Ohio pick the Ducks on Saturday, that would give Oregon an 18th state. The national reach of this program is as good as any school in the country.
Last year Oregon finished with the No. 4 ranked class in the nation. The 2025 class also finished at No. 4 nationally.
The early signing period for the 2027 class begins on December 4 and ends on December 6. The transfer portal window begins on January 2.
Oregon kicks off its 2026 season opener at home on September 5 vs Boise State.
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