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Umatilla County approves local funding authorization for Recycling Modernization Act implementation
Summary
County staff and haulers asked the board to authorize routing RMA producer funds directly to franchise haulers to support curbside expansion; commissioners approved the authorization.
Bob Walder, community development director, and Mike Kenrick, chair of the county Solid Waste Advisory Committee and a representative of sanitary service, briefed commissioners on local steps needed to implement Oregon's Recycling Modernization Act (RMA).
Walder said one necessary action is local funding authorization that allows producer-responsibility funds to flow directly to franchises implementing expanded recycling services. Kenrick and hauler representatives described five funding mechanisms under the RMA (system expansion, transportation reimbursement, post-consumer recycled-content premiums, contamination reduction, and other eligible uses) and recommended that those funds be distributed directly to the haulers rather than routed through county administrative accounts.
Presenters said communities with populations over 4,000 (Pendleton, Hermiston, Umatilla, Boardman, Milton-Freewater) will be required to offer curbside commingled recycling; haulers estimated implementation timing after equipment orders would likely be mid-2026 because truck and cart procurement lead times can run 12'18 months. Kenrick described the producer-responsibility organization Circular Action Alliance as the entity collecting and distributing funds from packaging producers and said the county and franchises are negotiating numbers of trucks, carts and schedules.
Commissioners asked whether service would be limited to properties inside urban growth boundaries (UGBs). Kenrick said Pendleton Sanitary Service intends to offer the service countywide to avoid patchwork rates and adjacent properties being treated differently; the board discussed but did not finalize a countywide policy at the meeting.
The board moved, seconded and approved the local government funding authorization directing producer funds to franchise haulers.
Why it matters: The RMA changes how packaging producers fund recycling and requires local governments and haulers to coordinate service expansion. The funding authorization accelerates the ability of franchise haulers to order trucks and carts and apply for related reimbursements, though lead times and state vehicle rules may affect timing.
County staff and haulers plan to return to the solid waste advisory committee and the board this spring with proposed rates and implementation details.
