A Pivotal Year for EPR

The Resource Recycling article “A Pivotal Year in EPR Policy,” quoting our Executive Director, Laura Stewart, captures a moment of transformation in US recycling and waste policy. What was once mostly theoretical or pilot-minded is increasingly becoming real, enforced, and consequential. And yet, passing extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws is only half the battle. The true test lies in how those laws incentivize better design, foster consistent compliance, and scale impact across jurisdictions. Below are some of the article’s key takeaways:

Key EPR Insights: Incentives, Circularity, Education

1. 1. “What separates great EPR legislation from less productive legislation are programs that tie incentives directly to environmental outcomes.”
      In Oregon, producers who design packaging that’s easier to recycle or less wasteful are rewarded with lower fees. Such a mechanism helps align business decisions with sustainability goals.
   2. “States like California are setting the floor … their minimum content law requires most beverage containers to include 50 % PCR by 2030, while its EPR program uses eco-modulated fees…”
      Because companies often operate across states, they are adopting more recycled content at a national level to stay compliant rather than managing a multitude of localized strategies.
   3. “The truth is, the best-designed package won’t be recycled if it ends up in the garbage bin … Policy can drive investment into the recycling system, but public participation is what makes it work.”
      Even with strong producer obligations and infrastructure support, consumer behavior remains essential.
   4. “Enforcement sets the floor, but education raises the ceiling.”
      We’re facing a dual imperative: a robust regulatory baseline is needed to ensure minimum compliance, while ongoing education is necessary to alter consumer behavior and push the system toward its fullest potential.

Read all of Stewart’s comments here.

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What Well-Designed EPR Looks Like

As demand for PET plastic continues to grow, we’re encouraged to see Oregon launch a fully operational EPR program covering glass, metal, paper, and plastic packaging. Several other states—California, Colorado, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, and Washington—are expected to follow soon. NAPCOR urges these states to incorporate the following principles into their EPR policies to ensure effective, equitable, and sustainable recycling systems:

• Strong environmental outcomes with reasonable and achievable material recovery targets.
• Consumer convenience, making it easy to recycle all consumer goods packaging.
• A sustainable financial model that strengthens recycling infrastructure—from collection and sortation to reclamation, market development, and public education.
• A minimum post-recycled content requirement to incentivize producers to use more recycled content, optimize inventory, simplify production planning, and increase the circular economy.
• Shared financial responsibility among producers, municipalities, and consumers.
• Fair and primary access for producers to purchase recycled materials.
• Social inclusiveness and equity, ensuring all people have access to recycling systems.
• Optimization of existing recovery systems, coordinated with related initiatives such as tipping fee surcharges, deposit return systems, and infrastructure financing programs.
• Adoption of recycling innovations, both mechanical and chemical, to increase the recovery of valuable materials.
• Eco-modulated producer fees that incentivize recyclability and the use of post-consumer recycled (PCR) content through meaningful differential fees, refunds, or cost reductions aligned with local recycling capabilities.
• Adherence to the Association of Plastic Recyclers’ Design for Recyclability Guidelines, ensuring all packaging components are designed according to established industry standards.
• Commitment to responsible end markets, supporting businesses that use recycled materials in ways that protect public health and the environment, to ensure demand remains consistent.

Scaling Recycling Infrastructure to Meet PET Plastic Demand

In addition to EPR, NAPCOR advocates for additional solutions to scale recycling infrastructure, including:

• Enable investment via tax incentives (e.g., CIRCLE Act): A 30% investment tax credit for recycling and waste management infrastructure over 10 years can jump-start needed capital deployment.
• Establish a harmonized national EPR framework: A harmonized extended producer responsibility (EPR) framework means the whole country follows the same recycling playbook, making it easier for companies to invest, for communities to recycle, and for us to turn American plastic waste into new American products.
• Commit funding to modernization of collection & processing infrastructure: Federal funding or matching grants can upgrade sorting and cleaning plants to produce food-safe recycled PET plastic, while easing the cost burden on local governments and making recycling more cost-effective.
• Expand bottle bills that include PET bottles: Strong deposit return systems (DRS) significantly boost collection rates. Expanding recycling refund programs across more states, whether as part of EPR or as standalone legislation, would ensure more PET bottles are returned, recycled, and remade into new bottles.

NAPCOR looks forward to continuing our work with policymakers and the industry to improve the disposal, collection, and recycling of PET, the eco-friendly plastic that supports thousands of jobs and channels billions of dollars into the economy.