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.

SALT LAKE CITY — More fire restrictions are being added in Utah despite some recent help in its drought situation.

The Bureau of Land Management is reinstating Stage 1 fire restrictions on land it manages in Juab and Millard counties on Friday. State land managers issued a similar order for Juab and Sanpete counties, which applies to state lands and unincorporated private lands in the county.

It prohibits building or maintaining any open fire or campfires using solid fuels or any ash-producing fuel in the section of central Utah, except for fire rings or grills at developed campgrounds or day-use areas on public state lands that have a pressurized running water system.

Open fires are also permitted at permanently constructed fire pits at private residences, as long as they have a pressurized water system.

The order also bans any smoking except within a vehicle or enclosed area, as well as grinding, cutting or welding of metal, or operating or using any internal combustion engine without a spark-arresting device. Violation can result in fines, restitution fees and even jail time.

It matches several other Stage 1 restrictions already in place across the state. Most of the restrictions are located in southwest Utah, but recent restrictions have crept up into central Utah and parts of the Wasatch region, too.

Utah Fire Info maintains a list of active fire restrictions in the state.

Both new orders were signed amid some encouraging signs in Utah’s drought situation this week. The amount of extreme drought in the state dropped from 60% last week to 43% this week, the U.S. Drought Monitor reported earlier Thursday. Most of the improvement came in other parts of central Utah.

However, nearly 95% of the state remains in at least severe drought, and all other parts of the state remain in at least moderate drought. That means it’s still plenty dry for new fires.

Close to 250 different fires have been reported across the state this year, burning over 12,000 acres of land. The entire state is currently listed as having above-normal fire potential as well, according to the National Interagency Coordination Center.

“As fire danger continues to increase across the region, fire managers are asking the public to use caution with any activity that could spark a wildfire,” said Kayli Guild, fire prevention and communications coordinator for the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands.

WILLIAMSPORT, MD (June 12, 2026) – The Washington County Highway Department announces an upcoming road closure on Bottom Road between the Tannery and the railroad tracks at the Quarry from Monday, June 15, 2026 through Wednesday, June 17, 2026 between 7:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. daily. 

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding. Alternative routes will be available for motorists. 

For further information, please contact Washington County’s Public Relations and Marketing Department at [email protected].

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