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Oregon State Regulators Consider Sending Recyclables to Landfill Amid China Crackdown
State regulators are considering approving a temporary change that would allow recyclables to be disposed of as garbage if they meet certain conditions.
1 Min Read
In response to China’s proposed scrap ban, Oregon regulators have received 14 requests from companies that want to send recyclable materials into landfill. And to fulfill those requests, state regulators are considering approving a temporary change that would allow recyclables to be disposed of as garbage if they meet certain conditions.
If the temporary change is approved, haulers and processors that send recyclables to landfill would be required to report to the Department of Environmental Quality the types, amounts, dates and locations of the materials. In addition, the haulers and processors would have to demonstrate that they made a “good faith” effort to find an alternative market for their materials and prove that it costs more to recycle their materials than to landfill them.
The Register-Guard has more details:
State regulators are poised to allow haulers and processors throughout Oregon to dispose of recyclables as garbage temporarily if they meet certain conditions.
The likely announcement comes as the West Coast recycling industry continues to be roiled by tougher restrictions and a threatened ban by China — the world’s largest importer of such materials — on some recyclables.
“It’s not a situation anyone is happy about, but it’s the current reality of our situation,” said Brian Fuller, the regional hazardous and solid waste manager for the state Department of Environmental Quality.
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