The Glass Packaging Institute (GPI) commends the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) decision to update how glass is classified on the statewide collections list under the state’s Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act (PPRMA).
The rule change, discussed during a public meeting of the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission last week, was discussed in detail today with the Rulemaking Advisory Committee. The decision reflects extensive engagement among DEQ, CAA Oregon, industry stakeholders, and GPI throughout the Spring 2026. The newly revised classification for glass, scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2027, appropriately places glass back onto the state’s uniform recyclables collection list.
The decision was announced to be included in a temporary rulemaking in September 2026 so that the change can be incorporated into 2027 planning. According to DEQ’s own estimates, the revised approach could significantly reduce costs attributed to glass brands (referred to as “producers”) in Oregon. The change also reduces the obligation for the state’s Producer Responsibility Organization to financially support all collected glass under the current framework, resulting in a fee structure that more closely aligns with the intent of Oregon’s extended producer responsibility law.
“The Glass Packaging Institute applauds the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality for carefully considering issues raised during therulemaking process and adopting a more balanced and appropriate approach for glass recovery,” said Scott DeFife, President and CEO of the Glass Packaging Institute. “This decision better reflects the state’s long history of successful glass recycling and supports a producer fee structure more consistent with the objectives of the law.” “GPI also wants to thank the Circular Action Alliance Oregon team for their detailed and professional work and collaboration during these past months, as well as the many volunteer committee and task force members that spent time advising on this rules change.”
The intent of Oregon’s extended producer responsibility framework is to have producers share in the cost of improving the recycling system, rather than assume responsibility for the full cost of an existing system. During the earlyimplementation phases, several regulatory factorshad resulted in higher-than-anticipated producer fees for brands using glass packaging, despite Oregon’s well established glass recycling infrastructure and strong recycling performance.
Glass has shown to have among the lowest cost to manage in other state EPR programs with producer fees less than half of what has been charged to glass producers in Oregon. In addition, the program plan approved by the state showed a very small percentage increase in the overall incremental glass recovered for these costs. GPI investigated the factors driving costs higher than expected and presented its findings to the Department, seeking an opportunity to address them. The analysis concluded that glass producers were disproportionately bearing the costs of the existing system rather than funding system improvements.
GPI also met with policymakers to address this concern head-on, in recognition that a single regulatory framework can produce unintended outcomes for materials with different recycling characteristics. GPI will continue working with policymakers, producer responsibility organizations and stakeholders as extended producer responsibility programs are implemented across the country to help ensure that fee structures appropriately reflect the recycling performance and characteristics of different packaging materials.