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22 January 202516 minute read

State EPR roundup: 2025 compliance deadlines approach as legislative and regulatory frameworks develop

Four years after the nation’s first extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws set out approaches to making producers financially responsible for managing the disposal of plastics and packaging, 2025 will see much-anticipated compliance rollouts in three states as data reporting and producer fee obligations take effect.

The first reporting deadline on March 31, 2025 is fast approaching and companies are encouraged to understand their compliance obligations if they make or sell packaged products, sell or use disposable food service ware, distribute paper products, or ship products to businesses or consumers.

This alert surveys recent developments in the EPR regulatory landscape. For an overview of the EPR legal framework for plastics, packaging, and paper products generally, please see the first alert in our state EPR roundup series.

The Circular Action Alliance will facilitate reporting in three states in 2025

State EPR laws are implemented through a quasi-regulatory nonprofit entity known as a producer responsibility organization (PRO). To date, every state that has approved a PRO has selected Circular Action Alliance (CAA), which was founded in 2022 by producers representing the food, beverage, consumer goods, and retail industries. As the sole PRO operating in these states, CAA provides services to participating producers in addition to its role in managing covered materials – the packaging, paper, and food service ware covered by the EPR laws.
CAA plans to make its reporting portal available to participating Oregon producers this month. It has also outlined 2025 reporting and fee payment timelines under the California and Colorado EPR programs.

Producers intending to meet their EPR compliance obligations by participating in one or more of CAA’s state programs are required by law to register with the organization, sign its Participant Producer Agreement (a master services agreement that CAA finalized in late 2024), and sign a separate state addendum for each relevant state.

Upcoming producer reporting deadlines for Oregon, California, and Colorado

By March 31, 2025, producers are required by law to report data to CAA for all covered material sold in Oregon. Reported information will include the number, weight, and material categories of all covered items purchased by consumers or businesses in the state in 2024.

By August 31, 2025, producers are required by law to report data to CAA for all covered material sold in California and Colorado during the first half of 2025 to CAA.

First producer fees due in 2025, with initial invoices expected in July

To date, neither CAA nor any state regulator has finalized a producer fee schedule. In general, fees will vary depending on the type of covered material and the cost associated with recycling, composting, or otherwise managing its disposal. CAA expects to set the Oregon fee schedule in June 2025 and invoice producers in early July for 2024 compliance costs in that state. However, in future years, CAA has stated it may collect fees biannually in January and July.

The latest draft Program Plan, which CAA submitted to Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality in December, provides draft base fee schedule ranges, with two scenarios – one high and one low estimate – to illustrate potential fee rates for specified covered materials. Although CAA will not set its fee schedule for the Oregon program until it analyzes producers’ data due to be reported by March 31, 2025, these ranges may be helpful to plan for possible fee obligations.

For instance, the low-estimate and high-estimate scenario fee rate ranges for the following materials are shown in the table below:

 

Low-estimate scenario

High-estimate scenario

PET (#1) clear plastic bottles

$0.17/lb.

$0.23/lb.

PET thermoformed containers

$0.55/lb.

$0.74/lb.

LDPE (#4) plastic jugs and jars

$0.82/lb.

$1.09/lb.

Expanded PS (#6) hinged containers or cups

$1.94/lb.

$2.58/lb.

Aluminum containers

$0.06/lb.

$0.08/lb.

 

Producers should note that fees will be proportional to the total reported volume of each covered material, so they may not fall in these ranges depending on the data reported to CAA in March. More information regarding CAA’s fee-setting methodology is provided in its draft Program Plan.

Additionally, beginning in 2027, California producers are required to collectively contribute $500 million annually to a state Plastic Pollution Mitigation Fund. CAA is authorized to collect up to $150 million of this annually from plastic resin manufacturers, with the remainder to be collected from producers of covered plastic products.

CalRecycle publishes source reduction baseline

California’s EPR law, SB 54, mandates a 25 percent reduction in both the weight and number of single-use plastic packaging and plastic food ware units or components sold or distributed in California by 2032. On December 31, 2024, CalRecycle released its Needs Assessment Cumulative Report: Source Reduction Baseline, estimating that over 2.9 million tons of plastic consisting of 171.4 billion plastic components were used in covered products in 2023.

The assessment is based on an accompanying Technical Report, which outlines the methodologies used to develop the baseline estimates. The Technical Report notes that primary packaging represents the vast majority of both the weight and volume of single-use plastic packaging items sold in 2023, followed by tertiary and then secondary packaging. Further, roughly half of covered packaging – around 58 percent by weight and 46 percent by number of units – was used in business-to-business transactions.

The Technical Report also found that the majority of covered food service items – about 70 percent by weight and 74 percent by number of units – were provided by restaurants, including takeout establishments like food trucks and ghost kitchens.

California producers are expected to work with CAA to achieve the mandated 25 percent reduction from both the 2.9 million-ton and the 171.4 billion-component baseline figures. That means reducing single-use plastics in the state by approximately 725,000 tons of plastic and 43 billion plastic components.

SB 54 further provides that:

  • At least 10 percent of the source reduction shall be achieved by shifting plastic-covered material to refillable or reusable products or eliminating a plastic component

  • At least 10 percent must be source reduced by 2027, including at least 2 percent shifted to refillable or reusable products, and

  • At least 20 percent must be source reduced by 2030, including at least 4 percent shifted to refillable or reusable products.

The Technical Report categorizes products and industries as “high impact,” “low impact,” and “non-primary.” These designations may preview which products and industries CAA will prioritize for source reduction efforts.

High-impact industries are those expected to generate a high volume of packaging because of high sales volume, the amount of packaging used per product, or both. They include food and beverage, toy, and clothing companies.

Low-impact industries are expected to contribute less because of a lower volume of products sold, less packaging used per product, or both. Examples include the appliance and furniture industries.

The “non-primary” designation is for products that are not regulated by SB 54, including plastic beverage bottles subject to the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act.

CalRecycle also published an updated covered material categories (CMC) list, which it is expected to revise annually by January 1. The list does not include any changes to the categories of covered material identified in CalRecycle’s July 1, 2024 CMC update.

Maine finalizes EPR regulations

Reporting under Maine’s packaging EPR law, the first enacted in the US, will begin in 2026. The state’s Board of Environmental Protection adopted regulations in December that defined the core goals and modalities of the program, including tiered interim targets building toward each of the following:

  • 100 percent of residents to have access to municipal recycling of readily recyclable packaging material by the state’s fourth needs assessment[1]

  • 100 percent of municipalities participating in the program by 2040

  • At least 80 percent of readily recyclable packaging diverted from the waste stream by 2040

  • At least 60-percent reduction in total packaging weight per capita by 2050[2]

  • At least 50 percent of packaging by weight to be reused by 2050

  • 100 percent of packaging to be readily recyclable, reusable, or compostable by 2050

  • At least 75-percent recycling rate for covered materials by 2045

  • At least 75-percent overall recycling rate by 2045

  • At least 30-percent postconsumer recycled content in packaging material by 2050, and

  • Effective immediately, according to the law, less than 80 percent of litter collected during litter audits – and less than 15 percent by 2050 – should be packaging material.

Unlike other states, Maine has adopted a “full municipal reimbursement” model under which local governments will continue to manage waste collection and recycling systems, which will be funded by producer fees.

By contrast, producers in California, Colorado, Oregon, and Minnesota must help manage recycling or run collection programs under EPR laws. Maine’s EPR program will be facilitated by a Stewardship Organization (SO), which will serve a similar function to other states’ PROs.

Maryland misses deadline to develop EPR proposals as advisory council’s work continues

Maryland passed legislation establishing an EPR advisory council in 2023 to oversee a statewide needs assessment and provide recommendations to inform future legislative work on EPR. Similar EPR “study bills” are in effect in Illinois and, as discussed below, Massachusetts.

Maryland’s needs assessment process was delayed, causing the Department of the Environment and the advisory council to miss their respective December 1, 2024 deadlines to complete the assessment and deliver recommendations. Legislators expect to develop an EPR bill in 2025 once they receive the advisory council’s input, likely early in the year.

Massachusetts adopts EPR study bill

In late November, Governor Maura Healey signed a climate bill that creates a special legislative commission on EPR. Section 108 of Bill S 2967, “an Act promoting a clean energy grid, advancing equity, and protecting ratepayers,” provides that the commission will include members representing retailers and product or packaging producers, the recycling industry, and environmental justice groups.

Massachusetts’s EPR commission will hold at least four public meetings, which are expected to begin early this year. The commission is mandated to deliver initial recommendations and findings regarding “paint, mattresses, electronics, lithium-ion batteries, plastics and other packaging” no later than January 15, 2026.

EPR trends to watch

As these developments illustrate, momentum around EPR is growing in the US, and 2025 will likely see new packaging bills introduced in legislative houses across the country.

Moreover, EPR is not just for packaging. For example, California SB 707, the Responsible Textile Recovery Act, is the first EPR law in the nation for clothing and textiles.

Many states have long had EPR programs in place for waste requiring special handling, like batteries, electronics, paint, and mattresses.

Legislation like the Massachusetts study bill emphasizes that lawmakers continue to think broadly about the types of products that may be appropriately managed through EPR.

Next steps for companies

EPR is here to stay, and 2025 will see significant milestones as reporting and financial obligations take effect in Oregon, California, and Colorado. These three rollouts may affect how producers, CAA, and state regulators prepare for and develop EPR programs in other states. And since recycling is not regulated at the federal level, this is one trend in sustainability regulation that may continue largely unchecked by the upcoming change in presidential administration.

DLA Piper’s Plastics practice is engaged with stakeholders across the industry and can provide additional information on regulatory compliance and sustainable approaches. For more information, please contact any of the authors.

[1] The needs assessment is to be conducted every ten years. Maine has not yet conducted its first needs assessment.

[2] Packaging data from the fifth reporting year will provide the source reduction baseline.