Hard-to-recycle materials may soon find a new use in Oregon thanks to a first-of-its-kind recycling center now open there.
The RecycleOn Oregon center in Ashland opened this month, the first of more than 140 planned in the state. The center is the product of a collaboration between Circular Action Alliance (CAA), the producer responsibility organization (PRO) that administers the state’s extended producer responsibility (EPR) law for packaging, and West Coast collection and processing company Recology.
The centers will accept plastic film, EPS foam, shredded paper, plastic buckets and other items that can’t be traditionally recycled.
CAA operates RecycleOn Oregon, the public-facing EPR educational clearinghouse. The Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act requires paper and packaging companies to spur and fund recycling initiatives such as RecycleOn.
The law – the first to pass in the US – took effect in January 2022, and recycling program changes started in July 2025. Some residents have already seen an expansion of what can be recycled curbside, with wider curbside service and a streamlined, statewide recycling list among future goals.
“RecycleOn centers are central to that mission as they give Oregonians convenient, free access to recycle materials that have never been accepted in their recycling bins,” said Alex Bertolucci, CAA’s Oregon communications manager. “By expanding what can be collected and keeping more items out of the waste stream, these centers directly support Oregon’s statewide recycling goals.”
Those goals include reaching a 25% recycling rate for plastic packaging and plastic utensils by 2028. Funding from manufacturers covers costs to operate the center, with the CAA managing the money and working with companies like Recology to operate the facilities.
“This launch brings the goals of the Recycling Modernization Act to life, making it easier for residents to recycle more materials, more often,” said Meghan Butler, Recology’s senior vice president and chief strategy officer.
Although CAA currently operates in five other states, Bertolucci said Oregon’s EPR law is the only one in the nation requiring separate collection for hard-to-recycle items, so there are no plans to offer centers in other states.
However, CAA next will launch the RecycleOn platform in Colorado in 2026, when that state’s EPR law for packaging takes effect.
CAA plans to open more than 140 centers statewide by the end of 2027, Bertolucci said. They will be located at transfer stations, recycling depots, Goodwill donation centers and other facilities such as grocery stores that are convenient for the public to access, according to Kieran Singh Nashad, a CAA communications specialist.
There are no specific usage goals in mind now, but the CAA will track usage and contamination rate to determine the best future outreach strategies, Bertolucci said.
“The goal is to ensure these centers are well-used, cost-effective and deliver measurable environmental benefits,” he said.
The RecycleOn Oregon campaign, which launched in July, looks to find new uses for the estimated 2.2 million pounds of recyclable material each day that doesn’t get recycled. The target is to have a RecycleOn Center within 15 miles of 95% of Oregonians by the end of 2027, to upgrade sorting facilities and to bolster transportation from rural areas.
A version of this story appeared in Resource Recycling on Oct. 21.
