Request for approval to dispose of source-separated recyclables

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Eligible material recovery facilities can request approval from Metro to dispose of source-separated recyclable materials due to adverse market conditions.

Eligible facilities

Columbia Recycling PDX

EFI Recycling

Far West Recycling

KB Recycling

Pioneer Recycling Clackamas

WestRock Recycling

On March 15, 2019, Metro’s Chief Operating Officer adopted interim administrative rules that allow Metro to suspend the provisions of Metro Code Section 5.01.030(b) that prohibit disposal of source-separated recyclable materials by any method other than reuse or recycling. The terms of the interim administrative rules are specific to material recovery facilities for source-separated recyclables collected in residential and business collection programs, meaning that those are the only entities for which Metro would consider suspending the prohibition on disposal. The interim rules expire on Sept. 11, 2019.

Solid Waste administrative rule exemption to prohibited activities288.17 KB Adobe Acrobat PDF Published Mar 15, 2019

The COO has adopted the rules in recognition that there may be situations in which material recovery facilities have no viable market for recyclable materials and that a prohibition on sending these materials to disposal may lead to potentially unsafe and unhealthy conditions at these facilities, place pressure on processing capacity and limit the ability to capture still-recyclable materials.

The rules define “no viable market” as follows: “No viable market” means that Metro has determined that either there is no actual market to which a material recovery facility may send the source-separated recyclables, or the costs associated with processing the recyclables and sending them to market outweigh the benefits from recycling these materials.

Metro’s evaluation of whether “no viable market” exists will be based on consideration of a number of factors, including:

Information provided by a material recovery facility on market conditions and costs
Information provided by a material recovery facility on its costs to process recyclables for market
Information from local governments on the costs to collection service ratepayers from passing on processing and market cost increases through higher tip fees charged at a material recovery facility
An assessment of the environmental, human health, community and public trust impacts associated with disposing, rather than recycling, the materials in question.

If Metro approves your request, you will be responsible for all tonnage charges and government fees and taxes assessed at a disposal facility.

Please complete the form below to request that Metro approve disposal of source-separated recyclable materials. To be considered for approval, you must provide all information that Metro deems necessary to make its decision.

Contact Matt Korot at [email protected] if you have questions.

Confidentiality

You may identify as confidential the market contact, market cost and processing cost information provided in response to question 2. Metro will treat this information as confidential to the extent allowed under Oregon law. Metro will make a good faith effort not to disclose the information unless Metro’s refusal to disclose would be contrary to applicable Oregon law, including, without limitation, ORS Chapter 192.

If Metro receives a public records request to disclose information that you marked “Confidential,” then Metro will provide you with written notice within five business days of the request. After you receive Metro’s notice, you will have three days to respond in writing to the request before Metro will determine, at its sole discretion, whether to disclose any requested information. Metro may share any confidential information with representatives of other governmental agencies provided that, consistent with Oregon law, those representatives agree to continue to treat such information as confidential and make good faith efforts not to disclose such information.

For public trust and transparency reasons, Metro will proactively make public the following elements of your request: your company’s name; the amount and type of recyclable materials; and the stated reason for the request.

Facility information

For which facility are you submitting this request? *

Your name *

Contact email

Contact phone

Materials for disposal request

1. Indicate the specific materials for which you are requesting disposal and the corresponding quantity of each material.

If possible, indicate the percentage of the total tons that were generated within the Metro region.

You may list up to five materials on this form; if you need to provide information on more than five different materials, please submit an additional form.

First material *

Quantity * tons

Percentage of total tons %