U.S. States Adopt Extended Producer Responsibility Laws to Shift Packaging Waste Costs to Companies
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies are gaining traction in the United States, with Maine and six other states having passed laws to hold companies accountable for the packaging waste generated by their products. These policies are based on the 'polluter pays' principle, aiming to shift the financial burden of managing packaging waste from local taxpayers to the producers of packaged goods. Under EPR, companies typically pay fees to a producer responsibility organization, which then uses these funds to cover the costs of collecting and processing packaging materials for recycling. While EPR programs have historically improved recycling rates, their effectiveness in encouraging sustainable packaging design improvements has been limited. However, evolving EPR policies are now incorporating mechanisms like eco-modulation, where fees are adjusted based on design considerations, incentivizing the use of recycled content and penalizing difficult-to-recycle packaging. Over a dozen additional U.S. stat... 
