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Oregon's 2027 fees: rates fall across the board, many by half or more

Circular Action Alliance (CAA), which collects Oregon's producer fees, is returning about $80 million of program reserves through lower 2027 rates. Film drops from 43¢ to 12¢ a pound, glass goes to zero, and two categories turn into credits.

Producer DeskOctober 10, 2026Oregon

What changed

Circular Action Alliance published Oregon's 2027 fee schedule on October 1, 2026. The headline is the reserve return: CAA says it is returning about $80 million of program reserves to producers through reduced rates, plus about $3 million of previously collected fees. The effect is large in almost every category.1

Material2026 per lb2027 per lb
PE film43¢12¢
PP film, laminates and other flexible packaging102¢56¢
Clear PET bottles25¢19¢
PET thermoforms57¢29¢
Corrugated cardboard8¢2¢
Paperboard8¢5¢
Glass bottles and jars10¢0¢
Aluminum containers6¢−9¢
Natural HDPE bottles9¢−4¢

Selected categories from CAA's 2026 and 2027 schedules. A negative rate is a credit: the reserve return exceeds the category's base rate.1,2

Two other details from the schedule. Producers supplying 10 metric tons or less can opt into flat dues of $700 to $3,100 instead of per-category fees. And 2027 fees are invoiced in two halves, in January and July.1

What it means for a mid-size brand

Your 2027 Oregon bill will be well below 2026's for the same packaging. A brand whose packaging is mostly PE film and corrugated could see its Oregon fee fall by about two thirds. One that relies on laminated pouches would see a smaller drop, closer to half, because laminate rates fell less. The relative pattern is unchanged: flexible plastic still costs several times what fiber does, so the levers that reduce fees in 2026 reduce them in 2027 too.

The thing not to do is treat 2027 as the new normal. The drop comes from returning reserves, not from lower program costs, and the reserve can only be returned once. Budget 2028 closer to the 2026 level than the 2027 one until CAA publishes the next schedule.

We've updated the Oregon guide to reflect this.

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Sources

  1. Circular Action Alliance, Oregon 2027 Fee Schedule (Oct. 1, 2026). circularactionalliance.org
  2. Circular Action Alliance, Oregon 2026 fee schedule (published Oct. 29, 2025). circularactionalliance.org

General information, not legal advice. This note summarizes a public document as we read it on the date above. Check the source before you act on it.