Extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws make the companies that put packaging on the market pay for the cost of collecting and recycling it. As of August 2026, seven states have enacted packaging EPR: California, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington. If you run a restaurant and buy stock takeout packaging, you almost certainly owe nothing directly. If you are a brand owner or a distributor shipping packaging into those seven states, you may owe registration, data reporting, and per-pound fees, and two of the deadlines already passed this summer.
This area is moving fast, and one program is actively in litigation. Everything below is stated as of August 2026; verify against the current state program before making a compliance decision.
The seven EPR states at a glance
No Southeast state has enacted packaging EPR. The obligation question for our customers is entirely about what you ship, or have shipped, into the seven states below.
| State | Law | Status / key deadline | Who is obligated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon | Recycling Modernization Act (SB 582, 2021) | Live since July 1, 2025, the first program in the nation. 2025 supply data was reported by May 31, 2026; fee invoices land in January and July. | Brand-owner waterfall; for foodservice ware, whoever first sells it into Oregon |
| Colorado | HB 22-1355 (2022) | Program live since January 2026 with active producer fee obligations | Brand owner, then importer or distributor down the waterfall |
| California | SB 54 (2022) | Permanent regulations effective May 1, 2026; registration and enforcement began June 1, 2026 | Producers of single-use packaging (all materials) and plastic single-use foodservice ware |
| Minnesota | Packaging Waste and Cost Reduction Act (2024) | Producer registration was due July 1, 2025; fees phase in later, with full implementation stretching toward 2032 | Brand-owner waterfall |
| Maryland | SB 901 (2025) | Join a PRO or file an individual plan by July 1, 2026; producers start absorbing recycling costs in 2028 | Brand-owner waterfall |
| Washington | Recycling Reform Act (SB 5284, 2025) | Join a PRO or register individually by July 1, 2026 | Brand-owner waterfall |
| Maine | LD 1541 (2021) | First state to pass, slowest to launch: the stewardship organization was still unselected as of June 2026, with an RFP issued June 15, 2026 | Brand-owner waterfall |
The working machinery behind most of these programs is a producer responsibility organization (PRO). Circular Action Alliance (CAA) is the PRO running Oregon and Colorado and handling registration in several other states, which at least means one portal covers multiple programs.
Fees by material: paper sits at the bottom of the scale
EPR fees are charged per pound of packaging material placed into the state, and the rate depends on how recyclable the material is. Oregon’s published 2026 fee schedule (CAA, Oregon Producer Fee Schedule for program year 2026) prices clear PET at 25 cents per pound and flexible HDPE/LDPE film at 43 cents per pound. Widely recycled fiber sits near the bottom of the scale; Oregon’s program-planning estimates put paper around 6 cents per pound, versus roughly 24 cents for rigid plastic and 34 cents for flexible plastic. Eco-modulation then adjusts rates for design choices, and in Oregon’s current cycle it is bonus-only: fee reductions for verified improvements, no penalties.
The direction is consistent across programs: kraft paper and corrugated are the cheapest materials to be responsible for, flexible and multi-layer plastic the most expensive. For a buyer, that means the fee system quietly reinforces what state plastic bans already push toward: paper carryout bags over plastic film bags. A plastic t-shirt bag is flexible film, the top of the fee scale. A kraft SOS bag is paper, the bottom of it.
Our SOS bag pricing makes the switch easy to model. From our current catalog: the 16# brown SOS bag runs $14.54 per 500-count case, which is $14.54 divided by 500, or about 2.9 cents per bag. The 20# tall brown is $15.83 per 500 (3.2 cents per bag) and the 25# tall brown is $16.64 per 500 (3.3 cents per bag). Those are producer-fee-friendly units at commodity prices.
SOS Paper Bags: current case pricing
All 9 SKUs →| Product | Pack | Case | Per unit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16# SOS Paper Bag — Brown — 500ct | 500ct | $14.54 | $0.029 | Volume quote → |
| 20# SOS Tall Paper Bag — Brown — 500ct | 500ct | $15.83 | $0.032 | Volume quote → |
| 20# SOS Shorty Paper Bag — Brown — 500ct | 500ct | $15.83 | $0.032 | Volume quote → |
| 12# SOS Paper Bag — White — 500ct | 500ct | $16.23 | $0.033 | Volume quote → |
Public case pricing, freight quoted separately. Volume and contract pricing on request.
For dine-in retail and catering handoff, twisted handle kraft bags ride the same low-fee material class. Our 13x6.75x17 brown twisted handle bag is $26.98 per 200-count case, which works out to $26.98 divided by 200, about 13.5 cents per bag.
Shop the catalog
Twisted Handle Bags
3 SKUs · from $26.98 – $27.48 per case
Who counts as a producer
Every enacted state points the obligation at a “producer,” and most define it with a waterfall: the brand owner is first in line, and if the brand owner has no presence the state can reach, responsibility falls to the licensee, manufacturer, importer, or distributor. Restaurants, food trucks, and cafeterias that buy stock packaging are not producers, and most sources are explicit that foodservice businesses which do not produce branded ware are exempt.
Two wrinkles matter for our audience:
Branded packaging can make you the brand owner. The waterfall starts with the brand on the package. A multi-unit operator running custom-printed cups or clamshells with its own logo can land at the top of the waterfall in states where it sells. Small-producer exemptions catch most independents (more below), but a regional chain doing custom print into an EPR state should get a real compliance read.
Oregon treats foodservice ware differently. For foodservice ware sold empty (cups, lids, cutlery, containers, straws), Oregon’s obligated producer is whoever first sells the ware into Oregon, which in practice is usually the manufacturer or the distributor. That is the one program where a wholesale distributor’s own shipments, not its customers’ brands, create the obligation.
Does a Southeast operation owe anything?
Run the test on three questions:
- Do you sell packaging, or packaged product, into CA, CO, ME, MD, MN, OR, or WA? If no, you have no EPR obligation as of August 2026. A Georgia restaurant group or a Tennessee distributor selling only in the Southeast is outside every enacted program.
- If yes, are you the producer under that state’s waterfall? Buying stock packaging: no. Own-brand or private-label product shipped into an EPR state: probably yes. Selling foodservice ware into Oregon as the first seller: possibly yes, even as a distributor.
- If you are a producer, do you clear the small-producer exemption? Oregon exempts producers under $5 million in revenue or under one metric ton of covered product supplied into the state per year, and exempt small producers there skip registration, reporting, and fees entirely. Colorado exempts under one metric ton per year or under a CPI-adjusted revenue limit ($5,632,843 as of July 1, 2025, from a $5 million statutory base). Thresholds and tests vary by state, so check each one you ship into.
For most of our customers the honest answer is: you owe nothing directly, and what you will actually feel is pass-through. Producers upstream of you are now paying per-pound fees in Oregon and Colorado, registration costs in five more states, and those costs travel through case prices the same way Section 301 tariffs do. Fee-heavy materials (flexible film, multi-layer laminates) will carry more of that drag than paper and clear PET.
The Oregon lawsuit and what changes next
The legal ground is not settled. On February 6, 2026, the federal district court in Oregon granted the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of Oregon’s RMA against NAW and its members, on claims that the law discriminates against out-of-state producers. The injunction is narrow: Oregon can still enforce against everyone else, and the case is headed to trial. If the challengers win, every state program’s treatment of out-of-state producers gets a second look. If Oregon wins, expect the remaining programs to accelerate.
Meanwhile the map keeps filling in. Maryland and Washington both hit their first join-a-PRO deadlines on July 1, 2026. Maine, the first state to pass a law, is still selecting its stewardship organization. And new EPR bills surface every legislative session, the same pattern we track for PFAS packaging bans: coastal states first, then a slow march inland.
What to do before the next deadline
- Restaurants and operators: no registration, no filing. Watch case prices on film and laminate-heavy SKUs, and treat paper as the fee-stable material class going forward.
- Operators with custom-printed packaging in EPR states: confirm whether your brand makes you the producer, then check the small-producer thresholds before spending anything on compliance.
- Distributors and brand owners shipping into the seven states: register with CAA where required, calendar the May 31 supply-data reporting cycle for Oregon and Colorado, and start capturing packaging weights by material now. Every program bills by the pound, and the reporting is only as painful as your data.
- Everyone: re-check this map every six months. Two of the seven programs did not exist eighteen months ago.