Extended Producer Responsibility laws shift part of the cost of collecting, sorting and recycling packaging from local governments to the companies that place that packaging on the market.
Seven states now have packaging EPR laws: Maine, Oregon, Colorado, California, Minnesota, Maryland and Washington. Maryland and Washington joined the list in 2025, bringing roughly one in five Americans under a state packaging EPR program. The laws share a general purpose, but their definitions, reporting categories, exemptions, fees and implementation schedules are not identical.
That lack of uniformity creates a substantial recordkeeping job for producers selling products across several states.
Companies may need to identify the materials used in each package, calculate their weight and determine how much packaging entered a particular state. Depending on the program, they may also need information about recyclability, recycled content, package format and the level at which the packaging enters the supply chain.
Oregon offers a working example. Producers covered by its Recycling Modernization Act must register with an approved Producer Responsibility Organization, report the amount of covered packaging, paper and food-service ware supplied in the state, and pay fees based partly on that data. Beginning in 2026, annual supply reports are due May 31.
California’s SB 54 covers single-use packaging and plastic food-service ware across the state’s economy. Its permanent regulations took effect May 1, 2026, and CalRecycle now operates an online system for producer registration, data submission and compliance tracking.
GS1 US has responded with new guidance for organizing EPR packaging data. It recommends using established identifiers such as Global Trade Item Numbers and Global Location Numbers to connect products with attributes including material type, weight and sustainability information. The goal is to keep packaging data consistent as it moves among brands, retailers, suppliers and Producer Responsibility Organizations.
Printers and converters will not usually file these reports for the brand owner, but they work directly with the physical packaging that generates the data. A change in film, paperboard, label stock, adhesive or package weight may alter the producer’s reporting record even when the visible artwork changes very little.
Version control therefore matters. The correct artwork must be paired with the correct material and product record. Where brands use QR codes to provide recycling instructions or other market-specific information, the printed code must lead to the appropriate record for that package version.
Variable printing can help converters manage those differences without holding large inventories of preprinted packaging for every product or market. QR codes, product identifiers and region-specific information can be added during production, allowing a common package design to support several controlled variations.
That flexibility does not repair inaccurate source data. Brands, converters and data teams still need a reliable method for approving versions and confirming that the information printed on the package matches the material actually running through production.
EPR compliance begins with records, but those records eventually meet a physical package. Keeping the two aligned will be an important part of producing packaging for a market governed by several different state programs.