Oregon launches modernized E-Cycles program

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has signed into law House Bill 3220, which is designed to modernize the Oregon E-Cycles program, an extended producer responsibility program (EPR) created in 2007. E-Cycles requires that electronics manufacturers offer Oregon households and other covered entities responsible and free recycling of certain electronics. The new law will pinpoint areas of instability and make improvements to the program by expanding the list of recyclable electronics, ensuring program accessibility and allowing for reuse, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) says.  

Discussions surrounding modernizing the Oregon E-Cycles program began in July 2022. DEQ held a total of five workshops with interested parties, including the Hopewell, Virgina-based Consumer Technology Association (CTA), Oregon Refuse & Recycling Association (ORRA), local governments and current and past E-Cycles operators, collection sites and processors, over a six-month period and, in a near unanimous vote of 23-1, an agreement was reached in January 2023. The new law will go into effect Jan. 1, 2026. 

“The program has been successfully running for over 10 years and over time there's been changes to standard practice with extended producer responsibility programs,” Abby Boudouris, senior legislative analyst at DEQ says about why modernization of the program is necessary. “So, part of [the change] was purely to bring the program up to date and to align it with our existing programs. And then more broadly, there's been changes in the electronics industry, changes in technology, changes in recycling. So, the update was also sought to include additional devices to be covered by the program.” 

Previously, Oregon E-Cycles only allowed for the recycling of computers, monitors, TVs, printers, keyboards and mice. According to DEQ, the list of recyclable electronics will expand to include VCRs, music players, DVD players, game consoles, digital converter boxes, cable receivers, satellite receivers, routers and modems. The amendment explicitly states the exclusion of all telephones from the list of covered electronics, and according to Boudouris, there are not yet plans to include them.    

Under the current program, electronics manufacturers must register their brands with DEQ and join either a state contractor recycling program or a private manufacturer-run recycling program, called a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO). Boudouris explains that under the new law, there will not be a state contractor program, replacing government involvement with PROs.  

“The existing E-Cycles law, the old one, was a little more government involved,” Boudouris says. “In the philosophy of extended producer responsibility,” she says that part of modernization is to move to a system where manufacturers can “pick whichever of the PROs they want to join.” 

According to DEQ, the new program seeks to stabilize the disconnect between e-scrap collection requirements determined by the state and the volume collected by the program’s two PROs. For several years, both PROs exceeded collection goals and, in late 2021, one PRO announced plans to remove several collection sites to align its collection volume with state requirements. The law will eliminate DEQ’s annual process to set collection goals and increase the number of collection sites required.  

“I would say the most important thing the bill will require is stability in the collection convenience," Boudouris says. "So, there will be easy access to all parties that are eligible to bring in their covered electronic devices on an ongoing basis."

The previous program required one collection site in every city with a population of 10,000 or more. The new program will not only require additional sites in those cities based on population density, DEQ says, but also will ensure that 95 percent of Oregon residents live within 15 miles of a collection site. 

Another convenience modification will see DEQ approving alternative collection methods based on local needs. “That could look like collection events,” Boudouris says. “In most of these programs, a permanent collection site is the most effective, but if there isn't an opportunity in a community, that would be one opportunity to do one-day events at some period.” 

Similarly, the new law will require instating equity considerations to increase accessibility and convenience. PROs must provide convenient and equitable service throughout the state but specifically to rural areas, minority lower-income communities and historically underserved populations. The new law requires that PROs work to sustain high awareness of the program in these communities. What these equitable services and high-awareness initiatives will look like is to be determined.  

“There will be a rulemaking that will cover much of the implementation of the new law that will occur over the next year or so between now and the implementation date,” Boudouris says regarding the program’s equity requirements. “I think we have more work to do to understand what the barriers are.” 

The new program also ensures opportunities for reuse. According to the amendment, a PRO must coordinate activities with recycling and reuse programs to further the environmentally sound management of e-scrap. Additionally, collection sites may recover collected devices for refurbishment and resale at retail. The weight of any devices recovered for reuse by a collection site may be required by the PRO to be excluded for reporting and compensation calculation purposes.  

Created in 2007 and launched in 2009, Oregon E-Cycles has collected 268 million pounds of electronics for recycling, DEQ reports. Any person giving seven or fewer devices to a collection site at one time can use the program. In expanding the list of covered electronics and ensuring accessibility in the collection network, residents will be able to recycle more devices over time and in a more convenient fashion. 

“We want the E-Cycles program to be convenient,” Boudouris says. “We want people to know about it and use it, and we want the devices collected and managed in an environmentally sound manner.”