Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden have introduced two recycling bills to the U.S. Senate, one of which is modeled after the successful Oregon "bottle bill."

Oregon's U.S. senators are hoping to replicate the state's recycling success on the national level, having introduced a pair of bills that take aim at the prevalence of plastics in American waste.

Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden put forward a national version of Oregon's Bottle Bill Feb. 12, which would set up a collection and reimbursement system for plastic bottles, alongside a bill that would establish minimum recycled content requirements for some plastic products. Both are designed to increase the frequency and reliability of recycling programs and behaviors around the country.

"We're trying to show the rest of the country an opportunity to take the Oregon Way nationwide," Wyden said.

The Original Recycling (OR) Bottle Act of 2020

Since the early 1970s, Oregon law has required some glass, plastic and metal cans and bottles sold in the state be returnable with a minimum refund value, now 10 cents. In 2018, Oregon recycled 90% of items covered by the Oregon Bottle Bill, according to the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative.

The law works like this: a distributor charges a 10-cent deposit on delivery of items covered by the bill; the store then charges a 10-cent deposit when it sells those items; a customer gets 10 cents from the store or a BottleDrop redemption center when returning the container; the distributor then pays 10 cents per container to the store or redemption center when empty containers are returned to them.

"This pretty much mirrors our law," Wyden said. "I'm sure there will be lobbies, as is always the case and was the case in the '70s, that Western civilization is going to end, we'll lose jobs, it'll be so inconvenient and the like. But we haven't seen it."

Just like the local law, Merkley and Wyden's Original Recycling Bottle Act of 2020 is designed to spur recycling in the private sector. At its most basic level, their proposal for a national program would have distributors, retailers and customers follow the same system.

Under the proposed national program, distributors that don't meet a 75% recovery rate would forfeit to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the amount of any unredeemed beverage container deposits received by the distributor. The funds then would be used by the EPA for marketing and outreach related to the bottle bill program. The federal government would serve in an oversight capacity.

Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2020

Wyden and Merkley's second piece of recycling legislation is intended to shift responsibility toward producers of plastics.

The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2020 would require large corporations to design, manage and finance waste and recycling programs; establish minimum recycled content requirements for beverage containers, packaging and food-service products; and standardize recycling and composting labeling. The senators believe the bill will inspire corporations to make more reusable products.

The bill would amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act by requiring producers with more than $1 million in revenue or making more than one ton of covered recyclable items to create a Producer Responsibility Organization, which will establish a program of pick-up or drop-off services. It would be the organization's responsibility to assure those products then are sent to qualified recycling centers.

"We do think this will create incentives for companies," Wyden said. "We call it putting a pause on new plastic."

Follow Adam Duvernay on Twitter @DuvernayOR or email aduvernay@registerguard.com.