Key Takeaways - What Is Happening? On March 7, 2025, Governor Newsom declined to adopt CalRecycle’s initial draft regulations under California’s Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act...more
A lot is going on in the extended producer responsibility (“EPR”) packaging world this month. Maryland and Washington became the sixth and seventh states respectively to enact EPR packaging laws. And this week, just a...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
Two significant developments have recently emerged concerning California’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) law, SB 54, which aims to phase out single-use plastics. The landmark law for packaging and plastic food...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
Plastic packaging and food ware are some of the first targets of California’s ambitious and far-reaching program to achieve a “Circular Economy” that reduces waste and pollution. The California Department of Resources,...more
What Happened - On Monday, October 14, 2024, the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecyle) opened a public comment period on changes to the previously proposed regulations implementing the...more
On July 1, 2024, CalRecycle published an updated list of covered material categories as required by California’s extended producer responsibility (EPR) law. SB 54 was signed into law by Governor Newsom in June 2022 and...more
Retailers with private label products, restaurants and consumer product manufacturers should consider whether they are subject to state extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws, and therefore should register with the...more
On March 31, Circular Action Alliance (“CAA”), the Producer Responsibility Organization (“PRO”) for California, Colorado, and the only contender for PRO in Oregon, submitted the first draft of its Program Plan (“the Plan”)...more
Recently, the Parliament and the Council, under the leadership of the Belgian Council Presidency, have been able to reach a provisional agreement on a final text for a new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation within a...more
Tomorrow, February 1, the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) will host a hybrid question and answer session to discuss the draft rulemaking on their extended producer responsibility (EPR)...more
At the end of 2023, the EU Parliament and the EU Council each adopted their positions on the EU Commission's proposal for a new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation. The Commission's proposal had already given rise to a...more
Since July 2021, when Maine passed the nation's first extended producer responsiblity ("EPR") packaging law, four other states (Colorado, Oregon, California, and Maryland) have enacted EPR packaging laws. For brevity, we...more
The Circular Action Alliance (“CAA”), a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is expected to be selected as California’s new producer responsibility organization (“PRO”) under the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer...more
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 54 on June 30, 2022, creating an extended producer responsibility (EPR) program and imposing some related prohibitions for certain single-use packaging and plastic single-use food service ware...more
It is probably fair to say that SB 54 – California’s extended producer responsibility (EPR) law imposing source reduction and recycling requirements on single use packaging and plastic food service ware – is not only the...more
On April 18, 2023, the Government of Canada announced the launch of consultations under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA) with respect to...more
California’s Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act (the “Act” or “SB 54”) is a variation of the increasingly popular Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and circular economy frameworks in...more
On March 29, 2023, the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) held a workshop on Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs) and forthcoming regulations under the Plastic Pollution Prevention...more
On February 28, CalRecycle held an informational workshop for SB 54, the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act. The workshop focused on the Advisory Board and Needs Assessment components of...more
California is a leader on plastics reduction, passing legislation regulating recyclability and sustainability claims, promoting the use of recycled materials, and preventing plastics pollution. In particular, two new laws...more
On June 30, 2022, Governor Newsom signed SB 54, the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act (“Act”), into law. The Office of the Governor described the Act as “the most significant overhaul of...more
The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (“ISRI”) announced an updated position statement on legislation addressing: Use of recycled plastics in the manufacture of new products ...more
California has a long history of enacting laws regulating plastic packaging, dating back to the Rigid Plastic Packaging Container law in 1991, a law many manufacturers only learn about when they receive a notice from the...more