Clackamas County, OR Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)
Key Facts
- Business recycling mandate
- Code § 10.03.145
- Materials businesses must separate
- paper, cardboard, glass, plastic bottles, cans
- Recycling license required for
- depot operators, brokers, collectors
- License section
- Code § 10.04.030
- Curbside scavenging
- banned, § 10.03.140(F)
Summary
Every business in the county must source-separate recyclable paper, cardboard, glass, plastic bottles and metal cans, provide labeled receptacles, and post signage identifying what to recycle. Anyone operating as a recycling depot, broker or collector must also hold a county recycling license.
All businesses within the County shall comply with waste prevention, recycling and composting requirements as set forth in this Chapter and the regulations promulgated hereunder. Failure to comply with this section shall be considered a public nuisance which may be abated as provided in 10.03.070 of this chapter.
A. Business will source-separate all recyclable paper, cardboard, glass and plastic bottles and jars, and metal cans for reuse or recycling.
B. Businesses will ensure the provision of recycling receptacles for internal and/or external maintenance or work areas where recyclable materials are collected, stored, or both.
C. Businesses will post accurate signs:
1. Describing the location where recyclable materials are collected, stored, or both;
2. Identifying the materials the business must source-separate for reuse or recycling; and
3. Providing recycling instructions
D. Persons and entities that own, manage or operate premises with business tenants, and that provide garbage collection service to those business tenants, shall provide recycling collection systems adequate to enable those business tenants to comply with the requirements of subsections A, B and C of this section.
[Added by Ord. 04-2009, 7/9/09; Amended by Ord. 04-2019, 6/11/19]
Full Breakdown
145, the Business Recycling Requirement, states that "all businesses within the County shall comply with waste prevention, recycling and composting requirements as set forth in this Chapter," and specifically requires businesses to source-separate recyclable paper, cardboard, glass and plastic bottles and jars, and metal cans; provide internal or external recycling receptacles wherever those materials are collected or stored; and post accurate signs describing where materials are collected, which materials must be separated, and how to recycle them. A business landlord who provides garbage service to tenants must also provide a recycling system adequate for those tenants to comply.
070, the same process used for illegal dumping. 040 exempts a person recycling their own generated material, anyone already franchised or permitted under the Solid Waste chapter, and haulers only passing recyclables through the county to outside markets. 140(H) bars locating a recycling depot or buy-back center anywhere in the unincorporated county in violation of land use and zoning laws.
Violations & Fines
Operating as an unlicensed depot operator, broker, receptacle operator or recycling operator violates Section 10.04.030 and is enforceable the same as other chapter violations, including referral to the Compliance Hearings Officer for a civil penalty. A business that fails to source-separate or post signage under Section 10.03.145 is treated as maintaining a public nuisance, subject to the notice-and-abatement process in Section 10.03.070 and a civil penalty set by Board resolution.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do businesses in unincorporated Clackamas County have to recycle?
Can anyone open a recycling drop-off business in the county?
Can someone else take the recyclables I set out at the curb?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Clackamas County
Compare Clackamas County to another location·View the Oregon trash & recycling overview
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