RIGHT TO REPAIR
In Oregon, we create tons of electronic waste — including an estimated 3 million cell phones tossed away each year. We could avoid much of this if companies just made it easier to fix our stuff. Instead, companies restrict access to parts and tools, forcing consumers to replace rather than repair their electronic devices. In 2024, we helped get our Oregon state leaders to give us the right to fix the stuff we already own, reducing electronic waste in Oregon. In 2025, we expanded right to repair protections for wheelchair users across the state.
100% CLEAN ELECTRICITY
Students recently won a campaign for 100% clean electricity in Oregon. Starting in 2017, OSPIRG students collected thousands of petitions signatures, met with dozens of legislators, and testified calling for a 100% clean future. The law requires Oregon energy companies to provide their customers with 100 percent clean electricity by 2040, an ambitious deadline faster than Washington and California.
BANNING SINGLE USE PLASTICS
Nothing we use for 15 minutes should pollute our environment for hundreds of years. That’s why OSPIRG Students have been working to turn the tide on the plastic waste crisis in Oregon. In 2020, we banned one of the worst kinds of single use plastic, polystyrene foam, in Eugene. In 2023, we helped pass that same ban statewide. In 2025, we helped pass a law that will eliminate all bags made of plastic film at checkout at restaurants, grocery stores, and other retail establishments in Oregon.
HELPING STUDENTS VOTE
During the 2020 election we did hundreds of class announcements to register thousands of students and it worked! The youth vote increased and the UO won the Pac-12 Voting challenge with the most plans to vote.
TAKING CLIMATE ACTION
In 2016 we helped pass the Coal to Clean bill, which got our state to commit to get off of dirty coal energy, and to get 50% of our energy from renewable sources like solar and wind.
PROTECTING PUBLIC HEALTH
In 2015, students joined a national campaign that convinced Subway and McDonald’s to commit to serving all meat raised without antibiotics to protect our life saving medicines and public health. In 2017, we convinced KFC to follow suit. Now the majority of the American poultry industry is raised without routine antibiotics.
MAKING COLLEGE MORE AFFORDABLE
We helped pass the Affordable Textbooks bill which limited publishing companies’ abilities to rip students off. We also helped pass the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which increased federal financial aid by $36 billion.
ALLEVIATING HUNGER AND HOMELESSNESS
With COVID-19 affecting our community we’ve fundraised $3,000 for Huerto De La Familia and Food for Lane County to help our neighbors struggling to make ends meet.
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Every year we help 10,000 UO students take action on an issue they care about like signing a petition, lobbying or calling in to their legislator, donating to charity, or learning new information about a policy issue. Through our internship program we are training the next generation of leaders. State leaders like Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and State Rep Nancy Nathanson got their start as OSPIRG interns at UO.