On October 14, 2024, California's Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (“CalRecycle”) released its proposed final regulations for California’s extended producer responsibility (“EPR”) packaging and plastic food service ware program, the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act ("the Act" or "SB 54"). Under the Act, SB 54 regulations must be adopted by January 1, 2025.
Under the new proposed final regulations, producers must register with CalRecycle – or the producer responsibility organization (“PRO”) must register on their behalf – by July 1, 2025. Circular Action Alliance (“CAA”) has been selected to serve as the PRO in California.
California’s definition of a "producer" differs from the definition of producers under other similar state EPR packaging programs in certain significant respects, including distinctions between producers that are considered in-the-state versus out-of-state. Unlike other similar EPR packaging programs, California also allows producers to register and report data directly with the regulatory agency, CalRecycle, rather than to the PRO.
Meanwhile, Oregon is expected to adopt final regulations next month (November 2024) for its similar EPR packaging, paper, and food service ware program that will require pre-registration with the PRO and reporting of covered material supply data by March 31, 2025 – and under Colorado’s packaging and paper program, producers were required to register with the PRO by October 1, 2024. CAA has been selected to serve as the PRO in Colorado and is expected to be selected as the PRO in Oregon after final approval of its Program Plan.
While registration with CAA at this point only requires providing basic contact information, CAA is expected to require execution of a Participant Producer Agreement (“PPA”), a binding agreement, over the next few months in which parties must commit to comply with the state programs.
EPR Group Consulting Inc. ("EPR Group") offers a customized report, a Preliminary Producer Evaluation (“PPE”) Report, which it prepares on the basis of answers provided by a company to a Producer Questionnaire developed by EPR Group. The PPE Report identifies the categories of packaging in a company’s supply chain for which it is likely responsible as a producer, identifies others in the supply chain who may share responsibility, and flags potential exemptions for analysis – enabling companies to understand their potential obligations before executing a legally binding agreement that will require them to report supply data and pay fees to the PRO on the basis of that supply data.
With Oregon’s March 31, 2025 requirement for pre-registration and reporting supply data and California’s July 1, 2025 registration requirement not far behind, companies should evaluate their compliance obligations in the near future.
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