Businesses that expect to be deemed “producers” of single-use packaging, paper, or food service ware (“covered materials”) under the various extended producer responsibility (“EPR”) programs unfolding in several U.S. states need to focus their attention on Oregon—the state with the most immediate producer compliance deadlines.
Producers will begin paying fees assessed according to their usage of covered materials in Oregon in July 2025. Before that date, however, producers must meet other important deadlines and data reporting obligations. After July 1, 2025, producers are prohibited from selling products using covered materials in or into the state unless they are in compliance with these requirements.
Subject to the anticipated adoption of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s Proposed Rulemaking 2 in November 2024, producers must report their 2024 supply data by March 31, 2025. Supply data includes information on the weight, number, type of sale, and potentially other metrics, per covered material category associated with the sale or distribution of a producer’s products.
To meet the March deadline, producers will need to sign binding contracts with Circular Action Alliance (“CAA”), which will be the producer responsibility organization for Oregon upon approval of their Program Plan, anticipated in January 2025.
In September, CAA published its Second Draft Program Plan and will release its third, and most likely final, program plan in December. The third draft will include even more detailed fee estimates for various covered material categories; however, the final fee numbers will be released only in June 2025 once CAA has had time to analyze the supply data they will receive from producers in March.
It is crucial that businesses take immediate steps to evaluate their producer status. If determined to be an obligated producer, registration with CAA unlocks access to the contracts and data reporting guidance necessary for producers to meet the approaching March deadline.
Producers will need ample time before March to familiarize themselves with CAA’s data reporting portal and properly organize their 2024 supply data. Therefore, it is critical that businesses understand whether or not they are “producers,” for which materials they are obligated or exempt, how compliance works with CAA, and how to plan for the data reporting requirements before 2025 arrives with Oregon’s EPR program in full swing.
By Adrien Thein-Sandler, Senior Policy Analyst, EPR Group Consulting, Inc.