EPR 101: What Producers Need to Know

Seven US states have now passed packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws, and two of them are already sending invoices.

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If you sell packaged products in the US, these laws may apply to you, no matter where you are headquartered. Each state has its own thresholds, deadlines, reporting formats and fees, and the rules keep changing as new states join and courts weigh in. Companies that start early get predictable costs and a dataset they can reuse. Companies that wait pay more in back fees, penalties and rework.

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EY estimates EPR fees can reach 1% of total sales revenue. On $100M in sales, that's $1M a year.‍

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You likely count as a "producer" (the one who pays) if you:

• Own a brand sold in any of the 7 states,
• Import products into the US,
• Distribute or sell private-label goods.

• What EPR is, why states are moving first, and which companies count as an “obligated producer”
• How the three packaging tiers (primary, secondary and tertiary) work, and how each active state treats them
• Where the seven active states stand today, with a closer look at Oregon, California and Colorado: thresholds, deadlines and penalties
• What compliance costs, including published fee rates by material and what drives your fee
• How to build one packaging dataset and map it to every state, instead of rebuilding it seven times

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Bring your questions. We'll save time at the end to answer them.