Compliance With State Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility Laws Due by July 1, 2025

Oregon’s Producer Responsibility Law

With an initial fee payment due on July 1, 2025, for more than 3,000 companies under Oregon’s new extended producer responsibility law (EPR), Oregon joins several states in implementing a producer assessment for product packaging to subsidize recycling programs. While the fee program in Oregon is similar to several other states’ legislation to address declining recovery rates, Oregon is the first state to begin collecting fees from producers.

A company is subject to the program if it sells in Oregon packaging under its own brand or without any brand, imports a packaged item into the U.S. for sale in Oregon, or produces the packaging used to contain an item sold in Oregon by remote sale or distribution. As of the end of May 2025, nearly 3,300 companies were registered in the program.

A “covered product” under the Oregon law is packaging, printing and writing paper, and food serviceware. The latter category includes materials used in storage and service packaging, such as single-use shopping bags, single-use trays, aluminum foil, ready-to-eat packaging, as well as trays provided to a consumer for containing multiple plants purchased at a nursery, bags or envelopes for screws, nails, and other bulk fasteners at a hardware store, and shipping or moving materials, such as envelopes, labels, bubble wrap, packaging peanuts, packing paper, and packing tape. “Covered products” does not include beverage containers, napkins, paper towels, rolls of packaging, pallet wrap, items sold on farms or used by farms or wholesale nurseries, prescription and nonprescription drug packaging, infant formula, wine and spirits containers already covered by Oregon’s refund law, and hazardous materials packaging.

A key component of the new Oregon program is the requirement for producers of a covered product to register with a state-approved Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO). The sole PRO approved by Oregon is a 501(c)(3) organization, Circular Action Alliance, which also has been approved as PRO for California, Colorado, Maryland, and Minnesota. The PRO began registering Oregon producers this year in advance of the March 31, 2025, deadline.

The PRO sets fee schedules for specific types of covered products based on weight. According to the Oregon PRO’s operating plan the average rate for covered products is between 17 cents per pound and 23 cents per pound. Following registration, the PRO issued assessments, referred to as “membership fees,” on a pro-rata basis. Notwithstanding the quasi-public aspect of the PRO, how it goes about determining the fees is based on a methodology that the PRO claims is proprietary and confidential. Neither the Oregon statute nor regulations contain a mechanism for challenging the assessment. The contract that producers sign with the PRO provides for the parties to engage in good faith attempts to resolve disputes and, failing that, binding arbitration with no right to appeal. The contract also appears to limit the availability of judicial relief from enforcement orders.

The PRO will monitor compliance through extensive tracking and periodic audits. Late payments are subject to a fee of one percent per month, compounded monthly. The PRO also may assess a liquidated damages charge of $5,000 for inaccurate reporting. Although failure to pay an assessment also can subject a covered producer to additional penalties levied by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ), the PRO’s stated approach is to first notify a noncompliant producer of deficiencies and allow an opportunity to respond and cure. However, curing noncompliance for failure to report and pay fees accurately or on-time will require paying all fees during the noncompliance period, plus late charges or liquidated damages. If the PRO is unable to resolve noncompliance, it will advise the ODEQ, which may assess additional enforcement fines or penalties.

Producer Responsibility Laws Around the Country

While Oregon is the first to begin collecting payments for the extended producer responsibility program, an increasing number of other states have or are developing similar programs. Maryland and Washington adopted packaging EPR laws in May 2025, joining Minnesota (2024), Colorado (2022), California (2022), and Maine (2021). Minnesota requires producers to register with the PRO by July 1, 2025. In Colorado, producers must register by July 31, 2025, and fees will come due January 1, 2026. California requires the first fees no later than January 1, 2027.Maine requires producer registration by May 2026, with fees due September 2026. Both Maryland and Washington require producers to join an approved PRO by July 1, 2026.At least eight more states have packaging EPR legislation under consideration.

But EPR legislation is not limited to packaging. Vermont enacted the first household hazardous waste (HHW) EPR law in 2023 (Act 58). Vermont’s HHW EPR law applies to manufacturers of household gas cylinders and products regulated as hazardous waste, requiring registration with a stewardship organization to shift disposal costs for covered products to producers. A June 2025 amendment established a deadline for producers to register with a designated stewardship organization by November 1, 2025. Following Vermont, California is now considering HHW EPR legislation of its own, the proposed Household Hazardous Waste Producer Responsibility Act.

The proliferation of EPR state laws, each with its own scope and exemptions, signals the need for producers to adopt a proactive compliance strategy, including budgeting for potential fees and reporting obligations. Ballard Spahr’s Environment and Natural Resources Group is tracking state-by-state compliance obligations and can provide advice and assistance.

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