Washington EPR Program - CAA February 15 Registration Date

Washington’s extended producer responsibility (“EPR”) program for packaging and paper products has begun its first implementation phase, with several key dates approaching.

Following several other U.S. states, Washington enacted its EPR program last year and incorporated a mix of those states’ features. Washington’s relatively longer implementation timeline leaves room for a considered rulemaking approach and methodical producer compliance planning. Other states have had relatively compressed producer compliance timelines: in California particularly, rigid statutory deadlines despite regulatory delays mean producers will likely have only 30 days to register and report data once CalRecycle finalizes its regulations.

But producers in Washington have time to understand their obligations, avoid over-reporting, and plan for design and process changes in line with the state’s long-term incentives.

Washington’s Department of Ecology (“Ecology”) began its rulemaking process at the start of 2026. Circular Action Alliance (“CAA”), the producer responsibility organization (“PRO”) in the other active U.S. EPR programs, expects producers to register by February 15 (ahead of the March deadline for CAA to register itself with Ecology); however, July 1, 2026, is the statutory producer registration deadline.

It is generally impractical for producers to register and comply independently. However, producers technically may do so, or register via a different PRO. Additional PROs are unlikely except for specialty materials, such as lubricant packaging.

CAA must pay Ecology a “start-up” fee by September 2026 to cover pre-implementation costs. While the start-up fees are likely to be smaller than the material- and volume-based fees already seen in Oregon and Colorado, the scale remains unclear. To address the free rider problem, CAA has repeatedly indicated that producers that register and pay late will be assessed retroactive fees plus interest for the time spent out of compliance. By March 2029, unregistered producers may not sell products into Washington. Producer data reporting and associated fee payments will likely begin in 2029 or 2030.

Washington’s EPR program contains the fundamental data reporting and fee payment scheme common to the several existing U.S. EPR programs, although fee numbers will differ based on the state’s particular waste management infrastructure. But it also incorporates additional important features. Ecology must establish statewide requirements on a range of metrics, including plastic source reduction and minimum post-consumer recycled content for certain materials. CAA will need to achieve these markers statewide, generally by incentivizing producer packaging behavior through fee credits and maluses.

Proactively planning for plastic source reduction and documenting reductions in the number and weight of plastic components will be important for producers subject to both the Washington and California programs, and this will likely confer eco-modulated fee credits in other states as well.

While Washington’s finalized regulations and data reporting deadlines are still years away, producers can position themselves for efficient, more cost-effective compliance by considering data acquisition, organization, and reporting issues raised by their processes in Oregon, Colorado, and (next up) California.

EPR Group guides producers through the compliance process by evaluating obligations and exemptions in each state, advising on short- and long-term planning, and providing support on related packaging sustainability laws and initiatives.