Each company must review the producer definition under each state’s packaging EPR law and determine whether it is a covered producer in California, Colorado, and/or Oregon. CAA is not able to provide legal advice or make this determination for you.

However, CAA has developed guidance to help businesses answer the two primary questions they need to ask that will help determine if they are obligated under the EPR laws:     

1. Is the material associated with my products covered by the EPR laws?    

2. Is my business the responsible producer for those materials? 

Please review CAA’s guidance materials for further information.

Please note that CAA guidance is not meant to constitute legal advice, and CAA assumes no responsibility for the decisions made by producers in determining their obligations. CAA suggests that producers work with their attorneys to review the relevant statutes, rules and regulations to determine their responsibilities.

Relevant Statutes:

• California Plastic Pollution and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act

• Colorado Producer Responsibility Program for Statewide Recycling Act

• Oregon Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act

• Maine Finalized Rules

• Minnesota Packaging Waste & Cost Reduction Act

To comply with producer registration requirements under California, Colorado, and Oregon EPR laws for paper and packaging products, covered producers must register with CAA unless the producer qualifies for an exemption or the producer intends to submit an individual compliance plan, under applicable law. 

Regulations in Colorado required producers to register by October 1, 2024. Producers who did not register by that date may be subject to enforcement. CAA has submitted a list of registered producers to the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment (CDPHE) following the October deadline and will be sharing updated lists as required. 

CAA has provided the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) with a list of registered producers as part of CAA’s revised program plan, submissions and will continue to provide updated lists as required. 

Producers in these states who missed the deadline need to still register with CAA, sign our Participant Producer Agreement and any relevant state addendum. 

Only registered producers will gain access to CAA’s producer reporting portal and educational materials and forums to support the producer compliance journey.  

California, Colorado, Maine, and Oregon EPR laws have different fee collection requirements and timelines. Oregon will be the first state where producers have fee obligations when the program begins on July 1, 2025. Fee obligations in Colorado will begin in January 2026. In California, fee obligations start in January 2027.

Fee schedules will depend on several factors, including but not limited to state needs assessment findings, rulemaking decisions, the scope of each state’s legislation, and approved program plans. 

In Oregon, the first state to require producers to pay fees, CAA has provided interim base fee estimates for three scenarios in its September program plan submission. In the December 2024 program plan submission, CAA shares a more granular estimate.  

Please join a Budgeting for EPR Fees onboarding session to learn more.  

Producers can stay on top of the latest fee payment information by registering with CAA and gaining access to our producer services events and communications.  

Retailers may have unique obligations under EPR programs. Across states, if a retailer has private label products that use covered materials, or that are covered materials themselves (e.g. foodware), that retailer will be an obligated producer. Retailers may also work with the owners of the brands they sell to provide information about products that were sold in an EPR state. Lastly, retailers and wholesalers in California may have additional reporting requirements for covered materials that CAA is working to clarify with CalRecycle.

Please consult with your legal counsel if you are unsure whether you are a covered producer. CAA is unable to provide legal advice.

Producers can switch their primary contact information as needed. Please email Producer.Support@circularaction.org with your name and company, and name, title, email address, and phone number of the new contact.

• Register: Each subsidiary should complete the registration form with Circular Action Alliance, CAA. If this is a major issue for your company, please contact producer.support@circularaction.org immediately to speak with CAA Producer Services.

• Sign the PPA: We have the option for some parent companies to sign a PPA at the parent level that represents all subsidiaries. Complete this survey to request a single PPA. This does not allow the parent to report for all subsidiaries at the parent level – this is only for the PPA.

• Associated producers are two or more producers that are legally intertwined in some way. This can be wholly owned subsidiaries, or partially owned subsidiaries, where 50% is owned or controlled by a trust or a person who is a grantor of the trust, share a single owner, or 50% of a company is owned by another entity. You can find all the scenarios listed near page 39 of this guidance document.

• A subsidiary is a scenario within the definition of associated producer.

• In both cases, it needs to be clear during the reporting process which entity is reporting which data.

• Yes, you should register.

• You should report on the materials that are covered, and you should exclude the non-covered products and packaging in your reported weights.

• There are several components to CAA’s national fee setting methodology:

• Base fees almost always vary by packaging type. The variation reflects the differences between each material in terms of (but not limited to) its quantities, cost to recycle, revenues, and recycling performance.

• Eco-modulated fees vary between producers. They are adjustments made to fees in the form of incentives (“bonuses”) or disincentives (“maluses”) that drive at targeted policy outcomes beyond the factors accounted for in base fees e.g. the use of bio-based materials or recycled content.

• To fairly set fees for producers, PROs require:

  • Guiding principles

  • A fee-setting methodology

  • Significant data and modeling

• The goal is to ensure each producer contributes its fair share of fees to the program based on the type and quantity of materials it supplies and their impacts.