OAR 340-096-0310: Responsible End Markets

(1) Responsible End Markets Standard (a) A commingled recycling processing facility must ensure that materials are marketed to responsible end markets, as provided by OAR 340-090-0670(1) and (2) and by completing the following two steps successively: (A) First, a commingled recycling processing facility must perform a screening assessment, using a form provided by DEQ. The screening assessment will record and corroborate written verification from all entities described in OAR 340-090-0670(2)(a)(A)-(E) that receive material which originated at the recycling commingled processing facility that they meet the responsible standard provided by OAR 340-090-0670(2)(b). (B) Next a commingled recycling processing facility must ensure that all entities described in OAR 340-090-0670(2)(a)(A)-(E) have been verified as responsible through a more detailed assessment against the responsible standard provided by OAR 340-090-0670(2), either through an annually-audited verification by a producer responsibility organization or through third-party certification from an Environmental Quality Commission-approved program, as provided by ORS 459A.955(2)(h)(A)(ii) and OAR 340-090-0670(3)(a)(B). (b) For all materials delivered to end markets for recycling, a commingled recycling processing facility must complete the step provided by paragraph (a)(A) prior to sending materials. For materials delivered to end markets for recycling on or before June 30, 2026, the step provided by paragraph (a)(B) must be completed by July 1, 2027. For materials delivered to end markets for recycling after June 30, 2026, a commingled recycling processing facility must complete the step provided by paragraph (a)(B) within 12 months of first delivery to the end market. ( c) Prior to sending a material to an end market or other downstream entity where the material would be processed by a non-mechanical recycling method , a commingled recycling processing facility must submit the following information to DEQ and receive advance approval: (A) A description of how the proposed method will affect the ability of the material to be recycled into feedstock for the manufacture of new products; (B) A description of how the proposed method will affect the types and amounts of plastic recycled for food and pharmaceutical-grade applications; (C) A description of any applicable air, water and waste permitting compliance requirements; and (D) An analysis of the environmental impacts for the proposed method compared to the environmental impacts of mechanical recycling, incineration and landfill disposal as solid waste. (d) Each end market and other downstream entity that receives material collected for recycling in Oregon requires only one screening assessment and an annually-audited verification by a producer responsibility organization or third-party certification from an Environmental Quality Commission-approved program. Commingled recycling processing facilities and producer responsibility organizations that send materials to the same end markets or other downstream entities may coordinate their market assessment efforts to avoid duplication of effort. (e) If a producer responsibility organization is granted variance for timing or required contents of a verification as part of the program plan review process, per OAR 340-090-0670(3)(f) or (i), the variance also applies to a commingled recycling processing facility that sends materials to the end market that is the subject of the variance. (2) Reporting (a) For all end markets and other downstream entities for which third-party certification from an Environmental Quality Commission-approved program has not been obtained, commingled recycling processing facilities must submit disposition reports that accurately report the final end market of the materials , in accordance with ORS 459A.955(2)(h)(A), to DEQ as follows: (A) Disposition reports shall consist of disposition data provided in a manner proscribed by DEQ, as well as all screening assessments and certification reports conducted in a given quarter. (B) Disposition reports must be submitted to DEQ on a quarterly basis, with all reports other than the first report due on the first of the month of each February, May, August, and November, covering the previous quarter of the calendar year. (i) The first disposition report is due December 15, 2025. (ii) No disposition reporting is required for materials that depart from a commingled recycling processing facility prior to July 1, 2025. (iii) If a commingled recycling processing facility wishes to send materials to an entity listed in OAR 340-090-0670(2)(a)(A)-(E) and no signed screening assessment is on file with DEQ, the signed screening assessment for the entity may be submitted to DEQ outside of the reporting schedule. (C) Disposition data must: (i) Indicate entities listed in OAR 340-090-0670(2)(a) that took possession of material marketed by the commingled recycling processing facility, including the business or person name, city, state, region, and country. The entities must be ordered sequentially along the pathway of disposition, with the end market positioned at the end; and (ii) Indicate the amount of material per category received in tons by each entity during the quarter, using the capture rate material categories in OAR 340-096-0300(3)(a)(B). For materials without capture rate targets that are added to the uniform statewide collection list by a producer responsibility organization via its program plan per ORS 459A.914(4)(b)), DEQ will temporarily designate the reporting category until a capture rate target is set in a subsequent rulemaking. When reporting disposition for supply chains in which materials that originated with a permitted or certified processor and that are subject to the responsible end market obligation mix with non-obligated materials, such as material originating from another state, an accounting method that attributes outputs proportionally with inputs must be applied to attribute output volumes to Oregon. Examples of such methods are the controlled blending methodology and the mass balance rolling average percentage methodology as defined in ISO 22095: 2020, CHAIN OF CUSTODY – GENERAL TERMINOLOGY AND MODELS. (iii) Contain comprehensive accounting for all destinations and tonnages described in subparagraphs (C)(i) and (ii) of this paragraph. Such accounting may exclude individual destinations as follows: (I) A single commingled recycling processing facility or single limited sort facility shall first calculate the total tons sent onward for subsequent processing, to end markets, or other disposition, for each material by reporting category for each calendar quarter. (II) If a single commingled recycling processing facility or single limited sort facility sends to an individual end market or to an entity in the supply chain leading up to the end market less than one percent of the material in a given reporting category during a given quarter, as calculated in part (I) above, then reporting of that destination may be excluded, subject to limitations described elsewhere in this rule. This exclusion does not apply to other locations where material disposition occurs (including landfills and incinerators), nor to entities along pathways leading to other locations where material disposition occurs. (III) A single commingled recycling processing facility or single limited sort facility may use the exclusion described in part (II) for no more than ten percent of the disposition of materials in any given reporting category for a given quarter, as determined in part (I) above. (IV) Any tonnages sent to destinations excluded from reporting must still be reported to DEQ and shall be aggregated together and reported as “materials sent to destinations excluded from disclosure under OAR 340-096-0310(2)(a)(C)(iii).” (D) A commingled recycling processing facility may designate other entities to report either a portion of or all of its disposition data to the department on its behalf, provided that designees are limited to: (i) entities that directly receive or directly take legal possession of material from the commingled recycling processing facility; or (ii) entities that do not receive material that originated at the commingled recycling processing facility. (3) Auditing. Commingled recycling processing facilities must allow producer responsibility organizations to access their facilities for the purposes of conducting random bale tracking as required by OAR 340-090-0670(4). (4) Material tracking. A commingled recycling processing facility must indicate in its operation plan to DEQ the method used for tracking its material along pathways of disposition and for generating required disposition reporting data.