# EPR Atlas

> EPR Atlas (EPRAtlas.com) is a free, weekly-updated intelligence hub tracking U.S. packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws. It provides fee tables, producer registration deadlines, eco-modulation criteria, enforcement timelines, and legislative tracking for every enacted state, plus a fee calculator. Maintained by Dave Hartter, a sustainability advisor.

## What EPR Atlas covers

The site tracks the 7 U.S. states with enacted packaging EPR laws and monitors pending legislation in other states. Content is organized into an Overview, a State Tracker (map plus all-states table), per-state Deep Dives, an EPR Laws by State comparison page, a Packaging Cost Calculator, a Unit EPR Fee Calculator, an Ask Atlas assistant, a Glossary, and a weekly What's New feed. The State Tracker rates each pending state's legislative momentum (High, Medium, or Watch) and shows the next scheduled action; momentum is an editorial signal, not a prediction of passage. Pending states with meaningful activity have dedicated status pages (see below).

## Enacted U.S. packaging EPR states (as of 2026)

- Maine: LD 1541 (enacted 2021), amended by LD 1423 (2025). Administrator is a Stewardship Organization (SO), not a PRO.
- Oregon: SB 582 (2021), the Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act. Fees active since July 2025. Enforcement warning letters began March 2026.
- Colorado: HB 22-1355 (2022). Fees active since January 2026.
- California: SB 54 (2022). Two fee instruments. The 2026 California Early Fee Schedule is PUBLISHED (CAA, July 20, 2026): six flat per-pound rates for program year 2026, invoiced in August 2026 per CAA's program plan. The ongoing per-CMC program fee begins 2027 and its schedule is still draft.
- Minnesota: HF 3911 (2024).
- Maryland: SB 901 (2025).
- Washington: E2SSB 5284 (2025).

Only Oregon (July 2025) and Colorado (January 2026) have live fee obligations. No other state has active fees yet.
Deep dive URLs for the enacted states: https://epratlas.com/oregon/, https://epratlas.com/colorado/, https://epratlas.com/california/, https://epratlas.com/maine/, https://epratlas.com/minnesota/, https://epratlas.com/maryland/, https://epratlas.com/washington/. Each carries that state's statute, fee status, de minimis test, penalty ladder, producer cascade, eco-modulation detail and dated timeline.

## Pending and early-stage packaging EPR legislation

EPR Atlas tracks states considering packaging EPR with an editorial momentum read and the next scheduled action for each. None of these states has an enacted program, so no producer obligations or fees apply in them today. Dedicated status pages:

- New York (High momentum): PRRIA, S.1464-A / A.1749-A. Passed the Senate 33 to 25; stalled in the Assembly for a second year in June 2026; 2027 reintroduction expected. https://epratlas.com/new-york/
- New Jersey (Medium): S3398 and companion bills, 2026-27 session, in the Senate Environment and Energy Committee. https://epratlas.com/new-jersey/
- Massachusetts (Dormant): S.571 and H.926 died July 31, 2026 when the formal session closed; both must be refiled in 2027. The 2026 EPR Commission had recommended a needs assessment first. https://epratlas.com/massachusetts/
- Illinois (Medium): HB 4064 / SB 702, stalled pending the Statewide Recycling Needs Assessment due December 2026. https://epratlas.com/illinois/
- Tennessee (Medium): SB 269 / HB 600, the Waste to Jobs Act, sidelined March 2026 with a 2027 return planned. https://epratlas.com/tennessee/

Other monitored states with introduced or early bills: Georgia (HB 1237), Missouri (HB 3504), Wisconsin (AB 772 / SB 778), North Carolina (HB 882), Connecticut (HB 6917 study). Rhode Island (HB 6207) and Hawaii (HB 750) enacted needs-assessment laws with reports due December 2026 and December 2027. Two bills are dead for their current session: New Hampshire HB 1789-FN was voted inexpedient to legislate on February 19, 2026, and Nebraska LB 607 was indefinitely postponed on April 17, 2026, which ends it for the 109th Legislature.

## Key compliance facts (high-accuracy)

- Producer Responsibility Organization: The Circular Action Alliance (CAA, circularactionalliance.org) is the approved PRO across the enacted states. California offers three registration pathways: join CAA, run an independent PRO via PEPRS, or claim the small-producer exemption. "Register with CAA" is not the only option.
- Washington, July 1, 2026: a producer must be a CAA PRO member. This is a direct producer obligation.
- Maryland, July 1, 2026: the CAA submits its producer/brand/material list to MDE. This is a CAA action, not a producer obligation. Maryland's producer deadline was May 31. Do not group Maryland and Washington as the same July 1 obligation.
- Minnesota de minimis: less than 1 ton introduced into Minnesota OR global gross revenues under $2M; either alone qualifies (Minn. Stat. 115A.1441 subd. 13). Every enacted state uses OR. Corrected 2026-08-03; this previously said Minnesota required both.
- California de minimis: the less than $1M California gross sales exemption requires a formal application; it is not automatic.
- Washington de minimis: three prongs joined by "or", any one qualifies (RCW 70A.208.020(16)): under 1 ton of covered materials, under $5M global gross revenue excluding on-premises alcohol sales, or an agricultural employer under $5M in Washington own-brand agricultural sales. The exemption applies now; January 1, 2031 is only when the $5M figures begin CPI adjustment.
- Oregon NAW injunction: protection applies only to NAW members as of February 6, 2026. Companies joining NAW after that date are not protected; non-NAW producers face full enforcement.

## Fees and eco-modulation

Fee formula: Annual Fee = Tonnage x Base Rate x Eco-Modulation Multiplier. Oregon's published 2025-26 rates are indicative: aluminum cans are lowest (~$0.06/lb), expanded polystyrene (EPS) is highest (~$1.38/lb). Eco-modulation works differently by state. Oregon's 2025-2027 program is bonus-only: the only fee reductions are three life cycle assessment (LCA) bonuses (Bonus A disclosure, Bonus B impact reduction, Bonus C reuse), and Oregon applies no maluses and no standalone attribute credits (no carbon black or flat PCR credit) this cycle. Improving recyclability (mono-material, removing carbon black so packaging is NIR-detectable, adding PCR) strengthens an LCA bonus rather than earning a flat credit. Colorado has not published an aggregate cap on eco-modulation reductions. Passive factors are already built into the published 2026 dues rates, and CAA lists four active incentives for the 2026 program year whose values are not published. A carbon black malus is a France/Citeo feature, not a current U.S. rule.

## California SB 54 source reduction (ISRP)

California requires producers of plastic covered packaging to reduce source material against a 2023 baseline: 10% by 2027, 20% by 2030, and 25% by 2032, measured by both weight and by component or unit count. A separate reuse, refill, or elimination minimum applies (2% by 2027, 4% by 2030, 10% by 2032). Each producer files an Individual Source Reduction Plan (ISRP) with the Circular Action Alliance through its Producer Portal, due no later than August 1, 2026 (CAA may adjust the date as rulemaking settles). Four recognized reduction pathways: reuse and refill, eliminating components, switching to non-plastic materials, and right-sizing or lightweighting. Post-consumer recycled content is not a fifth pathway: PRC 42041(aj) excludes switching from virgin covered material to PCR from the definition of source reduction. PRC 42057(a)(2)(B)(i) allows no more than 8 percent to be met through an alternative compliance formula the PRO must develop and CalRecycle must approve, and no approved formula exists yet. See https://epratlas.com/california/#isrp

## Penalties

California: up to $50,000 per day per violation, or $25,000 for a small producer, and nothing accrues until 30 days after a notice of violation (PRC 42081). Oregon: up to $25,000 per day. Maryland: $5,000-$20,000 per violation. Minnesota's ceiling is higher still, up to $100,000 per day for a third violation (115A.1462(c)), but no stewardship plan is approved so nothing can accrue there yet.

## Primary page

- [EPR Atlas hub](https://epratlas.com/): all tools, state deep dives, fee calculator, and the weekly-updated What's New feed.
- [Methodology](https://epratlas.com/methodology/): how this site is researched and maintained. The standard is that a figure comes from the instrument that creates it (statute, adopted rule, agency list, filed program plan), and sources are reviewed against that standard; the confidence label on each figure says how far that one got. Trade press and law-firm alerts are used to find a primary source, never to stand in for one. Every figure carries one of three confidence labels: Confirmed (read from an adopted rule and quotable from the provision cited), Signaled (an official draft or filed program plan exists but nothing is adopted), Speculative (nothing published, the figure is this site's own projection). The momentum signal on pending states is an editorial read, not a prediction and not citable. A full verification pass runs weekly and each page carries the date its facts were last checked, which moves when a pass runs and not when the site rebuilds. Beverage-container deposit programs are out of scope, so Vermont H.915 and Connecticut Public Act 26-148 are excluded. Corrections are dated in the weekly update log rather than edited out silently.
- [EPR Fee Calculator](https://epratlas.com/fee-calculator/): free tool to estimate annual packaging EPR fees by state, material, and tonnage across the 7 enacted states, with eco-modulation scenarios and a per-SKU (bill of materials) estimate. Formula: Annual Fee = Tonnage x Base Rate per Ton x Eco-Modulation Multiplier. Oregon and Colorado fees are live; other states are projected.
- [EPR Laws by State](https://epratlas.com/epr-laws-by-state/): side-by-side comparison of all 7 enacted U.S. packaging EPR states (governing statute, whether fees are live, fee start date, de minimis threshold, maximum penalty), with links to each state's deep dive. Derived from the hub and updated weekly.
- [Resources](https://epratlas.com/resources/): curated directory of primary sources and further reading, covering the program administrator (CAA) and state agencies, non-profits and industry groups (SPC, PSI, The Recycling Partnership, AMERIPEN, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, How2Recycle), law-firm trackers, trade press (Packaging Dive, Waste Dive, Resource Recycling).
- [EPR Fees by State](https://epratlas.com/epr-fees-by-state/): what packaging EPR costs state by state. Fee status, start date, eco-modulation model and de minimis exemption for all 7 enacted states, plus indicative per-pound rates by material for Oregon (live) and California (draft 2027, which is not the separate published 2026 California early fee). Every rate is computed from the same fee table that powers the calculators, so the figures cannot drift.
- [EPR Reporting Deadlines by State](https://epratlas.com/epr-reporting-deadlines/): registration dates, annual supply report deadlines and fee start dates for all 7 enacted states, with the full per-state timeline. Reporting obligations begin years before fees in Minnesota, Maryland and Washington.
- [Prepare for U.S. Packaging EPR](https://epratlas.com/prepare-for-epr/): what producers must actually do. Who is the obligated producer in each state (three different cascades; California has no importer tier and uses a personal-jurisdiction test), how the small-producer exemptions really work (Colorado and Oregon are OR tests measured on company-wide revenue, not in-state; Oregon's tonnage prong is metric tons), the annual register-report-pay cycle, eco-modulation by state, and Oregon's two separate life cycle assessment duties.
- [Am I an Obligated Producer?](https://epratlas.com/am-i-an-obligated-producer/): who the obligated producer is under U.S. packaging EPR, state by state. Colorado and Oregon run identical three-tier cascades with the importer last and keyed to import into the United States. California (PRC 42041(w)) has NO importer tier at all and uses a personal-jurisdiction 'in the state' test under 14 CCR 18980.1.1, not physical presence. Maryland (COMAR 26.04.14.02B(25)(b)) and Washington (RCW 70A.208.020(29)(a)(i)) run the full five-tier cascade and both put the MANUFACTURER at tier 1, for goods under the manufacturer's own brand or in packaging lacking brand identification, with the brand owner only at tier 3; Maryland adds a franchise rule at 26.04.14.02B(25)(g) landing the obligation on the franchisor. Maryland also excludes governments, 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations, virgin-wood-fiber mills and de minimis producers from the producer definition outright. A private-label retailer sits near the TOP of the cascade in all of them, not the bottom. Material-specific rules for e-commerce shipping packaging, service packaging and publications override the general cascade. Minnesota producers appointed a PRO by January 1, 2025 (Minn. Stat. 115A.1443); Washington producers must be PRO members after July 1, 2026 (E2SSB 5284 sec. 104(1)(a)) with a market restriction from March 1, 2029; Maine has no producer obligation yet.
- [EPR De Minimis and Small Producer Thresholds](https://epratlas.com/epr-de-minimis/): the small producer exemption threshold in every enacted state, whether the two tests are joined by AND or OR, and whether relief is automatic or must be applied for. California requires a formal application and is not automatic. Every enacted state joins its tests with OR; what varies is the ton unit, whether revenue is global or in-state, and whether relief is automatic. Washington's test is three prongs joined by "or" and applies now; its January 1, 2031 date only starts CPI adjustment of the $5M figures. Includes Oregon's tiered flat fee option under ORS 459A.884(6): $1,200 for 1 to 2.5 metric tons, $2,500 for 2.5 to 5, $4,100 for 5 to 7.5, $5,800 for 7.5 to 10.
- [U.S. Packaging EPR Litigation Tracker](https://epratlas.com/epr-litigation/): every active packaging EPR lawsuit with court, docket, what is challenged, current posture, who is covered by any relief, and a last-confirmed date. Covers NAW v. Feldon and Lollicup v. Feldon (Oregon), ILMA v. CDPHE (Colorado), the 17-state challenge and the NRDC challenge to SB 54, and the SB 343 labeling injunction. No court has enjoined a packaging EPR fee program as to producers generally; Oregon's injunction covers NAW members as of February 6, 2026 only.
- [California SB 54 Source Reduction Plan](https://epratlas.com/source-reduction-plan/): what an Individual Source Reduction Plan (ISRP) contains, the August 1, 2026 filing deadline, the 2023 baseline, the 10 percent by 2027 / 20 percent by 2030 / 25 percent by 2032 targets with minimum reuse-refill-elimination shares of 2, 4 and 10 percent, and the four recognized pathways (PCR is a capped alternative compliance credit, not a pathway). The 2032 target is measured by weight AND by component or unit count.
- [Scope Screener](https://epratlas.com/scope-screener/): seven questions covering states sold into, supply-chain role, revenue, per-state volume and packaging types. Returns in scope / exempt / needs review per state with the rule cited. Free, no email.
- [Unit EPR Fee Calculator](https://epratlas.com/unit-calculator/): per-SKU fee built from a bill of materials, before and after eco-modulation, with the component driving most of the cost named. One email unlocks it and Ask Atlas together.
- [Ask Atlas](https://epratlas.com/ask-atlas/): a question box answering from the EPR Atlas reference rather than the open web, so it declines where a rule is not final instead of producing a confident figure that does not exist.
- [Guided tour](https://epratlas.com/tour/): a walkthrough of the site and the calculators for a first-time visitor.
- [Weekly Update Archive](https://epratlas.com/updates/): every What's New entry published at a permanent dated URL, organized by week. Each entry carries its category, the states affected, and its primary source.
- [Federal Packaging Bill Tracker](https://epratlas.com/federal-packaging-bills/): the three federal bills that touch packaging. PACK Act (H.R. 6832, Rep. Randy Weber R-TX, introduced Dec 17 2025, House Energy and Commerce) would set FTC-administered federal recyclable/compostable/reusable claim standards and preempt states from requirements that DIFFER from the federal framework, which is field preemption rather than a floor, and would displace California SB 343. Recycled Materials Attribution Act (H.R. 7502, Rep. Nicholas Langworthy R-NY, introduced Feb 11 2026) prohibits misleading recycled content claims, encompasses chemical recycling, and conflicts with California AB 2253 on mass balance. CIRCLE Act (H.R. 4466, Rep. Thomas Suozzi D-NY, House Ways and Means) is a recycling property investment tax credit with no action since July 2025. Both the PACK Act and RMAA received a House Energy and Commerce legislative hearing on July 22, 2026 as 2 of 12 bills on a consumer protection docket; no markup, vote or next step was announced. There is NO federal packaging EPR law and none of these bills would create one.
- Per-case litigation pages, one URL each: https://epratlas.com/epr-litigation/naw-v-feldon/, https://epratlas.com/epr-litigation/lollicup-usa-v-feldon/, https://epratlas.com/epr-litigation/ilma-v-cdphe/, https://epratlas.com/epr-litigation/nebraska-v-heller/, https://epratlas.com/epr-litigation/nrdc-v-calrecycle/, https://epratlas.com/epr-litigation/clfp-v-bonta/. Each gives court, docket, what is challenged, current posture, who is covered by any relief, and a last-confirmed date.
- [Design for Recyclability](https://epratlas.com/design-for-recyclability/): how packaging design decisions become recyclability determinations and eco-modulation fees, material by material (plastics, glass, paper and fiber, metal, decoration), plus on-pack claims under California SB 343, How2Recycle labeling, and the CalRecycle CMC list. Links to the Unit EPR Fee Calculator to model the fee impact of a design change.
- [Design for Recyclability Rater](https://epratlas.com/dfr-rater/): free tool, currently in beta, that scores a package component by component against APR and How2Recycle recyclability logic and maps the result to each active U.S. EPR state's determination (California from the SB 54 CMC list, Oregon from its statewide collection list; other states shown as pending). Returns a DfR score, per-component likely How2Recycle labels, recyclable-weight share, component verdicts, and re-scored design moves. Likely outcomes from public criteria; a final How2Recycle label requires an H2R assessment. Planning estimate, not a compliance determination.

## Contact

Dave Hartter, Sustainability Advisor - info@hartteradvisory.com