On July 30, 2025, the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW) filed a lawsuit1 challenging Oregon’s Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act. The Act created Oregon’s sweeping extended producer...more
On July 30, 2025, the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW) filed suit against the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the Oregon Environmental Commission alleging that Oregon’s Plastic Pollution...more
A defining feature of the extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws emerging across the United States is the expectation that producers join a statewide producer responsibility organization (PRO). But for some producers,...more
Extended Producer Responsibility Legislation, also known as EPR laws, is a policy-based approach that holds producers accountable for the entire lifecycle of their products, particularly for take-back, recycling, and final...more
Solar, wind, and battery technologies have, and will continue to be, front and center of the renewable energy and clean technology transition. Entities in the renewable energy and clean technology space should be closely...more
This week Maryland’s Governor Wes Moore signed Senate Bill 901, an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) law designed to make “producers” of packaged items and paper products financially responsible for the upgrades to state...more
An Update on the Legal Landscape Surrounding Plastic Pollution - It’s hard to reflect on “Our Power, Our Planet” this Earth Day without discussing plastic. Plastic is deeply embedded in our daily lives. Consider, for...more
With the March 31, 2025 deadline to comply with Oregon’s packaging extended producer responsibility (EPR) law rapidly approaching, producers of covered materials, including packaging, paper products, and food serviceware,...more
Earlier this month, California Governor Gavin Newsom directed the state’s recycling agency, CalRecycle, to restart the process of issuing regulations for California’s landmark plastic and packaging extended producer...more
Across the country, states are enacting so called “Extended Producer Responsibility” (EPR) laws aimed at reducing plastic waste and shifting the cost of recycling these plastics from the consumer back to the producer. This is...more
For the past four years, multiple states have worked to pass laws (called Extended Producer Responsibility laws, or “EPR”) that reallocate the burden of dealing with end-product waste (and related recycling efforts) to the...more
Key Takeaways - What is happening? Packaging waste has received heavy attention from lawmakers in recent years. A growing number of states are adhering to Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and Recycled Content...more
Extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws are relatively new – the first were signed into law in 2021 and 2022 – and are aimed at encouraging producers to package goods in a more environmentally conscientious manner and...more
All Wrapped Up is a newsletter that tracks and analyzes key developments in extended producer responsibility laws for packaging. It is a subscription-based resource for King & Spalding clients who sell or distribute just...more
On November 21, 2024, Massachusetts enacted legislation likely to accelerate its adoption of new extended producer responsibility (EPR) legislation. Tucked into a new climate law (find a separate alert on the law here),...more
Four years after the nation’s first extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws set out approaches to making producers financially responsible for managing the disposal of plastics and packaging, 2025 will see...more