Dorran calls for input on mandatory recycling fee structure
By Terry Murry on Tuesday, March 24th, 2026 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
UMATILLA COUNTY – The Umatilla County Board of Commissioners had unanswered questions regarding Oregon’s new mandatory curbside recycling law that is going into effect this year. They postponed a decision that would approve the fees so they could gather more information.
The law requires curbside co-mingled recycling bins for all customers of waste disposal companies in cities and urban growth areas where the population is 4,000 or more. Board Chairman Dan Dorran says that means the law only applies to Hermiston, Pendleton, Umatilla, and Milton-Freewater.
“It isn’t going to include all of Umatilla County,” he said. “It won’t include Helix, Pilot Rocks, Weston, Athena and all. It is not going to be a fair decision, no matter what.”
In the more populous areas, individual customers do not have the option to opt out of the mandatory recycling. For a single residence it would be $8 a month with pickups every other week. The suggested fee for multi-family residences is $24, but Dorran said it was not clear on how that would be charged on the wide variety of multi-family dwellings.
He urges citizens to give input to the commissioners as they tackle the changes. They can email askyourcommissioners@umatillacounty.gov.
File photo of recycling truck provided by Sanitary Disposal, Inc.
