(1) A producer responsibility organization shall, upon request, fund in advance or reimburse, as appropriate, the eligible expenses of a local government or the local government’s service provider for eligible costs as provided in this section.

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(2)(a) The costs of transporting covered products from a recycling depot or recycling reload facility to a commingled recycling processing facility or a responsible end market, including the cost to receive, consolidate, load and transport covered products, are eligible costs for funding or reimbursement by a producer responsibility organization.

(b) Eligible costs under this subsection do not include costs for:

(A) The transport of covered products directly from a generator to a recycling processing facility or a responsible end market.

(B) The transport of covered products from a recycling depot if the recycling depot is not designated or authorized by a local government as part of the recycling program operated by the local government or the local government’s service provider.

(C) The proportion of a shipment of recyclable material that is not covered products.

(D) The transport of covered products for distances greater than the distance to the closest commingled recycling processing facility or responsible end market with capacity to accept the covered products.

(E) The transport of covered products for less than 50 miles or for a greater de minimis distance, as established by the Environmental Quality Commission by rule.

(c) The commission shall establish by rule methods for determining funding or reimbursement amounts under this subsection. Methods may include payments based on zones and must account for proximity to an appropriate commingled recycling processing facility or responsible end market that has capacity to process or recycle the material and other factors that could affect transportation costs.

(3) The costs of periodically evaluating the quality and contamination of collected materials as required by ORS § 459A.929, if the evaluation occurs at a location other than a commingled recycling processing facility, are eligible costs for funding or reimbursement by a producer responsibility organization.

(4)(a) The costs of contamination reduction programming for residential and commercial customers required by ORS § 459A.929 and the cost of similar contamination reduction programming provided by local governments not subject to the requirements of ORS § 459A.929 are eligible costs for funding or reimbursement by a producer responsibility organization.

(b) The commission shall establish by rule methods for determining funding or reimbursement amounts under this subsection. Rules adopted under this subsection may not require producer responsibility organizations to provide funding or reimbursement of more than $3 per capita per year, based on the population of a local government or, if the local government is a county, the population of the unincorporated area of the county.

(5)(a) Costs associated with the expansion and provision of recycling collection services for covered products as provided in this subsection are eligible costs for funding or reimbursement by a producer responsibility organization.

(b) A local government that commits to expanding recycling opportunities during the needs assessment conducted under subsection (8) of this section is eligible for funding or reimbursements under this subsection. A producer responsibility organization shall work with local governments to determine the services the local government is requesting and the schedule by which the new program will be implemented, and shall provide funding for the new programs in advance of or concurrent with implementation.

(c) A producer responsibility organization shall provide funding for activities requested by local governments through the periodic needs assessment conducted under subsection (8) of this section.

(d) Eligible costs under this subsection include:

(A) For on-route programs, start-up costs, including but not limited to trucks, containers, promotional literature and, if necessary and none other is available, a recycling reload facility for reloading recyclables, including any compaction equipment necessary for the recycling reload facility; and

(B) For recycling depots, containers, on-site monitoring equipment, site preparation or other start-up costs and operational costs, including staffing.

(6) The costs of complying with ORS § 459A.908, to the extent that the use of post-consumer recycled material is more expensive than the lowest priced alternative, are eligible costs for funding or reimbursement by a producer responsibility organization.

(7) The costs associated with other recycling system improvements for covered products as determined by the commission by rule are eligible costs for funding or reimbursement by a producer responsibility organization.

(8)(a) The Department of Environmental Quality shall conduct a statewide needs assessment in partnership with local governments and local governments’ service providers to determine local interest in expanding collection options and recycling depots in areas not served with those collection opportunities, provided that funds are made available to the local programs for expansion.

(b) The needs assessment shall include a process for local governments to request services and commit to providing additional services.

(c) The department shall periodically repeat the assessment and may conform the timing of the assessment to coincide with the schedule for producer responsibility organizations to submit new producer responsibility program plans.

(9) A local government or the local government’s service provider requesting reimbursement under this section shall submit an accounting of its costs to a producer responsibility organization, if the reimbursement is not otherwise determined according to a formula.

(10) A producer responsibility organization shall remit payment for expenses under this section to a local government or the local government’s service provider or other person authorized by the local government to receive payment within 60 days of receiving a request for payment. A producer responsibility organization shall provide written notification to the local government of any payments remitted to a person authorized by the local government to receive payment.

(11)(a) The department may review or audit the cost accounting and reimbursement request records of a producer responsibility organization, a local government or the local government’s service provider that receives payment under this section.

(b) The department shall require a local government or a local government’s service provider that receives advance funding under this subsection and does not use the moneys for the purposes for which the funding was provided to return the funding to the producer responsibility organization, according to standards established by the commission by rule.

(c) Information furnished to the department under paragraph (a) of this subsection may be designated confidential. Information designated confidential is not subject to public disclosure under ORS § 192.311 to 192.478, except that the department may disclose the information in a summarized or aggregate form.

(12) A local government shall identify to the department the local government’s service providers that are authorized to receive funding or reimbursement directly, as described in this section, from producer responsibility organizations in the periodic report submitted according to the requirements of ORS § 459A.050.

(13) A local government or local government’s service provider that has received funds for expansion or improvements to recycling collection under this section shall report to the producer responsibility organization when the expansion or improvements have been fully implemented. A local government or local government’s service provider must also report the status of implementation to the producer responsibility organization on an annual basis for any funded collection program that has not been fully implemented, so that the producer responsibility organization may include that information in the annual report required under ORS § 459A.887.

(14) The disposal of covered products by means of landfilling or incineration may not be an eligible cost for funding or reimbursement by a producer responsibility organization under this section. [2021 c.681 § 13]