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Packaging Legislation Update and 2024 Outlook

AMERIPEN provides updates on existing EPR legislation, along with insights on what to expect from state and federal packaging policy this year.

Packaging Legislation

In this annual Q&A, AMERIPEN Executive Director Dan Felton and the association’s principle lobbyist, Andy Hackman of Serlin Haley, provide updates on current state and federal packaging legislation along with insights on what to expect in the coming year.

Packaging World:

The trend of more states enacting full packaging producer responsibility, also referred to as extended producer responsibility [EPR], laws did not continue during 2023, although two states, Illinois and Maryland, did enact groundwork laws. Can you tell us more about that and what we might expect to see on additional EPR legislation in 2024?

Dan Felton:

Packaging Legislation FeltonDan Felton, Executive Director, AMERIPENIn 2023, we saw nearly 40 bills in play across at least 18 states dealing with packaging producer responsibility in one way or another. AMERIPEN was deeply engaged in advocacy efforts and negotiations in many of those states on behalf of the packaging industry, but in the end, only two bills, in Illinois and Maryland, made it across the finish line. Both new laws require a needs assessment to be conducted to help inform any full packaging producer responsibility programs that might advance in the future and establish an advisory council to help advise on the needs assessment and potentially other matters in the future. Both states began naming members for their advisory councils in December. Maryland’s law also requires the selection of a single producer responsibility organization [PRO] to advise on the needs assessment. In October, the Maryland Department of the Environment [MDE] announced that it had selected Circular Action Alliance [CAA] as the PRO, which is the same organization that the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment [CDPHE] selected in May to be Colorado’s only PRO.

Andy Hackman:

Packaging Legislation HackmanAndy Hackman, Principal Lobbyist, Serlin HaleyWe fully expect the heavy volume of proposed packaging producer responsibility legislation to continue in 2024, but it’s difficult at this point to say with any certainty how many bills will have significant traction and if we’ll see any new EPR laws enacted in 2024, given that it’s an election year. We’re currently actively engaged in several states, including Hawaii, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, and Washington State and are already deeply involved in the discussions and negotiations in these states to help shape the best possible outcomes for packaging producers and the recycling system. Michigan and New Hampshire are a couple of other states we’ll be watching closely.

A significant amount of activity took place in 2023 to advance implementation and rulemaking for the four existing packaging producer responsibility laws in California, Colorado, Maine, and Oregon. Can you tell us more about that and what you’re expecting in 2024?

Felton:

CalRecycle, one of California’s environmental agencies, completed an extensive series of stakeholder workshops in 2023 to help inform preliminary draft regulations that were released in late December, 2023. Keep in mind that California has some unique producer performance goals and requirements, including 25% source reduction. CalRecycle is expected to name a single PRO as soon as this month, and while they may require producers of covered packaging materials to register with the PRO as soon as this year, those producers will not have to be compliant with requirements in California until January 2027.


   How prepared are CPGs for extended producer responsibility legislation? Find out from this excerpt from PMMI’s Business Intelligence Report, “Sustainability and Technology – The Future of Packaging and Processing”


Colorado’s Producer Responsibility Advisory Board has been meeting regularly for the past year to help inform implementation of the EPR program, and CDPHE has hired consultants that are in the process of completing a required statewide needs assessment to help shape producer requirements. In early December, CDPHE released four informal draft rule concepts for which it will host informational webinars and take public comments in January and February, and then initiate formal rulemaking around May of this year. This is an excellent opportunity for Packaging World readers to directly engage in helping shape what will become the final rules. Starting in July 2025, producers in Colorado will have to join and participate in CAA or submit their own individual program plan to the state.

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