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Oregon: sustainable packaging labelling
Oregon requires covered beverage containers to indicate the refund value and requires a “Do Not Flush” label on covered non-flushable wipes. Senate Bill 582 repealed the state’s resin-identification-code statute and created a packaging producer-responsibility programme that does not itself prescribe a universal consumer mark. Truth in Labeling Task Force recommendations were not enacted.
Executive summary
Oregon is easy to misdescribe because several neighbouring instruments occupy the same policy space. The bottle bill still requires an on-pack refund-value indication. The Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act created a producer-responsibility system for packaging, printing and writing paper and food serviceware, with programme operations beginning 1 July 2025. The same 2021 Act repealed Oregon’s resin-identification-code marking requirement. A separate consumer-protection chapter requires a “Do Not Flush” label on covered premoistened wipes manufactured after 1 July 2022. None of these instruments is a general on-pack recycling-sorting logo.
The Truth in Labeling Task Force, convened under the Recycling Modernization Act, issued recommendations on 1 June 2022. Those recommendations were not enacted and have no independent legal force. A federal constitutional challenge to the Recycling Modernization Act was pending at the verification date, with trial completed in July 2026 and a ruling then expected by the end of August 2026. A narrow preliminary injunction had paused Department of Environmental Quality enforcement against members of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors. That litigation should be checked immediately before treating any producer duty as settled.
Legal status at a glance
| Requirement | Status | Operational meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Beverage-container refund mark | mandatory | Covered containers indicate the refund value by embossing, stamp, label or another securely affixed method. The state name is not required. |
| State resin-identification code | repealed | Section 58 of Senate Bill 582 (2021) repealed ORS 459A.675, 459A.680 and 459A.685. |
| Covered non-flushable wipe | mandatory | Products manufactured after 1 July 2022 carry a “Do Not Flush” notice and symbol; flushable representations are prohibited. |
| Packaging producer responsibility | in force | Financing, reporting and recycling-service duties through a producer-responsibility organisation. The Act does not prescribe a universal consumer-facing EPR or recyclability mark. |
| Truth in Labeling Task Force artwork | not enacted | The 1 June 2022 recommendations have no independent legal effect. |
Beverage-container refund marking
ORS 459A.720(1) requires that every beverage container sold or offered for sale in this state by a dealer shall clearly indicate, by embossing or by a stamp, or by a label or other method securely affixed to the beverage container, the refund value of the container. The statute does not require the word “Oregon” or the letters “OR.” Subsection (2) exempts glass beverage containers designed for beverages having a brand name permanently marked thereon which, on 1 October 1972, had a refund value of not less than five cents.
The current refund value applied in Oregon’s bottle-bill system is ten cents. ORS 459A.705 establishes the refund-value rules, including the ten-cent figure now used in the redemption system. Artwork should state the refund value actually in force. Classification of the beverage and container should follow ORS 459A.700–459A.740 rather than a marketing description.
Repeal of the resin-identification code
Oregon formerly required resin-identification coding under ORS 459A.675, 459A.680 and 459A.685. Senate Bill 582 (2021), the Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act, repealed those sections. The Department of Environmental Quality’s section-by-section summary identifies section 58 as the repealer. The enrolled relating clause likewise repeals ORS 459A.675, 459A.680 and 459A.685. A chasing-arrows resin triangle on a package sold in Oregon is therefore not, on that basis, an Oregon mandate.
Non-flushable wipe labelling
ORS 646A.540 requires a “Do Not Flush” label on covered premoistened nonwoven disposable wipes manufactured after 1 July 2022. Covered products include wipes marketed as baby or diapering wipes and specified premoistened nonwoven wipes composed partly or entirely of petrochemical-derived fibres that are likely to be used in or near a bathroom and have significant potential to be flushed. The statute requires both the words “Do Not Flush” and a specified “Do Not Flush” symbol, sized at least two per cent of the principal display panel (with federal-warning exceptions), in high contrast, and placed so that the notice is viewable each time a wipe is dispensed.
The same section prohibits a representation, expressly or by implication — including through product name, endorsement, depiction, illustration, trademark or trade name — about the flushable attributes, benefits, performance or efficacy of a covered product.
Recycling Modernization Act
ORS 459A.860–459A.975, enacted as Senate Bill 582 (2021), requires producers of covered packaging, printing and writing paper and food serviceware to join a producer-responsibility organisation and, through that organisation, fund end-of-life management. The new law became effective 1 January 2022; recycling-programme changes started in July 2025. Circular Action Alliance is the producer-responsibility organisation with an approved programme plan. Producers generally may not sell or distribute products that use covered materials in Oregon unless they participate in the programme.
Those are organisational, financing and service duties. The Act does not prescribe a universal on-pack recycling, EPR or recyclability logo. Producer fees, accepted-material lists and collection-service standards should not be translated into a consumer claim that a specific package is recyclable in Oregon. Litigation over the Act, including the wholesaler-distributor injunction described in the Atlas Theme 2 Oregon article, can affect who is presently subject to DEQ enforcement.
Truth in Labeling Task Force
The Recycling Modernization Act directed DEQ to convene a Truth in Labeling Task Force. The Task Force issued its final report on 1 June 2022. A task-force recommendation has no independent legal effect. It acquires force only if the legislature enacts it or if an agency with delegated authority adopts it through the prescribed rulemaking process. Neither occurred for the label concepts described in the report. The Theme 2 article Oregon: recommendations that were never enacted records this distinction in more detail.
Voluntary claims and general law
Voluntary recyclable, compostable, recycled-content and general environmental-benefit claims remain subject to the FTC Green Guides and Oregon’s unlawful-trade-practices statutes. A required refund-value mark is not a recyclability finding. A resin triangle retained for other states is not an Oregon recyclable claim. Producer participation in Circular Action Alliance is not evidence that a particular package is recyclable, compostable or environmentally preferable.
Practical artwork checklist
For beverages, classify the container, confirm the current refund value, apply a securely affixed indication of that value, and record any 1972 glass-brand exemption. For wipes manufactured after 1 July 2022, apply the “Do Not Flush” notice and symbol at the statutory size and contrast, and remove flushable representations. Do not treat former ORS 459A.675–.685 or the Truth in Labeling report as current artwork law. Identify the EPR producer and keep fee and reporting work separate from consumer claims.
Primary sources and verification
Oregon Laws. ORS 459A.720, indication of refund value. Current consolidated text
Oregon Laws. ORS 459A.705, refund value. Current consolidated text
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act programme page. Official programme page
Oregon Legislative Assembly. Senate Bill 582 (2021), enrolled text, including the resin-code repeal. Enrolled bill
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. SB 582 section-by-section summary, identifying section 58 as the resin-code repealer. Agency summary
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Truth in Labeling Task Force final report, 1 June 2022. Official report
Packaging Label Atlas. Oregon: recommendations that were never enacted. Theme 2 article
Federal Trade Commission. Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims, 16 C.F.R. Part 260. Official Green Guides
Federal Trade Commission. Environmental Claims: Summary of the Green Guides. Business guidance
EPR enforcement status and the current refund value should be checked immediately before release. Last verified: 21 August 2026.