EPR Packaging Laws: Frequently Asked Questions

After months of dialogue, landscape assessment, and implementation steps, the first requirements of EPR are coming upon brands quickly.

Specifically, non-exempt producers should be getting ready for the following:

• Oregon: First reporting deadline is March 31, 2025. This data should cover brands’ 2024 volumes. Fees will be due in July 2025.

• Colorado: First reporting deadline is August 31, 2025. Fees will be due in January 2026.

• California: First reporting deadline is August 31, 2025. Fees likely will be due in 2027.

The producer is the “brand owner”—the entity that owns the copyright to the product’s brand or a brand licensee. Note that supply chains vary from state to state, so brands should review state-specific guidance, mainly if their situation is complex.

This detailed resource provides extensive information to help brands determine whether they are considered producers in specific situations.

All nonprofits and government agencies are likely to be exempt from EPR. Additionally, brands selling baby food, medical goods, and hazardous materials are often exempt. Finally, small businesses with revenue under a certain threshold will typically be exempt.

• Oregon: Companies with less than $5 million in total revenue OR who have put less than one metric ton of packaging into Oregon in their last fiscal year are likely to be exempt. Read more about Oregon's brand excemptions.

• Colorado: Entities with total revenue below $5,506,200 OR who have put less than one ton of packaging in Colorado last fiscal year are likely exempt. Read more about California's brand excemptions.

• California: California’s exemption thresholds are still being determined. Recent updates suggest that companies with less than $1 million in gross sales will be exempt.

Yes! Companies that receive orders and ship them to customers are considered the producers responsible for shipping materials, including mailers, envelopes, tape, boxes, void fill, and more.

Many packaging sustainability and safety laws are in place and under consideration across US states. They typically fall under the following categories:

• Material bans: These include plastic bag bans, straw bans, polystyrene bans, and more.

• Recycled content requirements: Some states are placing minimum recycled content thresholds.

• Labeling accuracy and requirements: California and other states are enacting legislation requiring on-package labeling to meet their specific standards, particularly compostability and recyclability.

Check out our two guides on this topic:

Guide to EPR and Sustainable Packaging Legislation

Guide to Packaging Compliance and Regulations

Oregon reporting calculator: To help you translate your EcoEnclose packaging usage into reports that align with Oregon’s material categories, our brands have access to a beta tool that translates EcoEnclose packaging units into weights by Oregon’s stated material class and reporting category. Access the beta tool here.

Bill of Materials and weights by product category: Our Bill of Materials provides a detailed breakdown of the specifications of our packaging solution categories. Additionally, the weight and material type of our stock product offerings are listed at the bottom of each product category page.

In-depth guides: Guide to EPR and Sustainable Packaging Legislation and Guide to Packaging Compliance and Regulations.

To date, only Oregon has released any information related to fee structures, which is still preliminary.

This report, released in December 2024, outlines the low— and high-fee structures being considered for different material categories in Oregon.

Preparing for EPR data reporting requirements can take one to six months, depending on the complexity and scale of your business, the types of packaging you use, and the systems you already have or don’t have.

If your brand has already actively adhered to Canada's and Europe’s EPR reporting requirements, it will be better positioned for the upcoming deadlines in the US.

If you’re just getting started and feeling overwhelmed by the pending March 31, 2025, deadline in Oregon, rest assured that estimates of both weight and volume are likely to be acceptable for this first reporting requirement.

The Circular Action Alliance—the PRO administering EPR in Oregon, California, and Colorado—will likely accept population factor calculations to estimate regional product sales. We anticipate that CAA will share a standardized formula for population factoring that will be deemed admissible for reporting.

Industry averages for material types are likely acceptable, particularly in the early years of EPR in the US. However, as the laws mature and technology advances, we will see an increased emphasis on actual weights based on specific state-by-state sales data.

The “Average Bill of Materials (ABOM)” method can likely be used to estimate packaging weights. This method groups similar SKUs, applying standardized assumptions to the entire group. While this approach may be permissible and streamline your process, it could also result in overestimating your packaging weights, leading to higher fee structures for your brand.

We recommend that brands establish a Bill of Materials for their specific packaging SKUs, with weights and material categorizations for each SKU. This centralized dataset will enable companies to track and report their packaging data more accurately. The BOM will also give brands clear visibility into their opportunities for eco-modulation improvements over time.

While individual sales data is ideal, it is unlikely feasible in many situations. We anticipate that brands will be able to leverage total sales, use sales estimates by state, and apply these estimates to packaging data to produce reports. As EPR matures in the US, states and the CAA may demand more precision.

Oregon has published its reporting categories. California and California have yet to do so. CAA has already released a template for brands to report their data. Registered brands can find this on CAA’s website and regular webinars to help them navigate Oregon’s upcoming reporting deadline.