Imagining the Next Generation of EPR: Oregon's Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act (RMA)

This talk, hosted by the Center for Industrial Ecology, will describe pioneering legislation adopted in Oregon designed to improve recycling but with a strong focus on the quality of environmental and social outcomes as opposed to just increasing recycling rates. Adopted in 2021, the RMA contains innovative provisions related to social equity, transparency, responsible end markets, contamination reduction, material quality, and holistic impact reduction. These elements, coupled with the use of lifecycle assessment (LCA), provide examples of how product stewardship policy in the future could transcend the narrow limitations of waste and discards management. In the U.S., 150 different state laws establish extended producer responsibility (EPR) requirements for producers of a whole range of products, including waste pharmaceuticals, paint, electronics and carpets. Most focus narrowly on requiring producers to fund and/or operate take-back systems for wastes. Informed by research and principles of industrial ecology, Oregon’s Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act charts a wholly different course. The talk is free and open to the public. The speaker will join us online and for those who are local, lunch will be available in room 321. David Allaway has worked at the intersection of waste, materials, and environment for more than 35 years. He is currently a senior policy analyst at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality where his work is divided between policy development and impact assessment. He commissioned and has maintained the first sub-national consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions inventory in North America. Mr. Allaway has testified before Congress and the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, and his work has appeared in Time, the Washington Post, the New York Times, PBS Frontline and even Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. He has a B.A. in physics from Carleton College.