Seven US states have packaging EPR laws, but only Oregon and Colorado charge producers fees in 2026

Four rungs: how far each state has climbed

SPI’s framework sorts the states by what a producer must do today, not by the label on the statute. Each rung adds an obligation and a cost signal. A state moves up when an operator is contracted, a plan is filed, a plan is approved and fees are invoiced.

The rungs differ from the tracker’s status labels. On 14 October 2026 the SPI Regulation Tracker shows Oregon, Colorado and California as in force and Minnesota, Maryland, Washington and Maine as adopted. The Minnesota, Maryland and Washington records are being updated in the 13 October check, because producer duties in those three states already apply. Across all jurisdictions the tracker holds 60 rules in force and 13 adopted in 25 jurisdictions; these totals move when the check is published.

Where the money flows today: Oregon and Colorado

Both CAA tables are in US cents per pound. SPI converts them to US dollars per metric tonne at 1 US cent per pound = USD 22.0462 per tonne, as the SPI EPR & Plastic Tax Calculator does. Both are in one currency, so they can be compared directly.

Oregon prices each line by its place on the statewide collection list (USCL), the PRO list, or neither (“N/A”). The system improvement portion is 0.0 cents on every 2026 line, so the final fee equals the base fee (CAA Oregon schedule). Colorado prints base dues, a bonus or malus and final dues for each line, with materials on the Minimum Recyclable List (MRL), the Additional Materials List (AML) or not collected (N/C).

Exhibit 3 gives three readings. Colorado is cheaper on 11 of the 16 matched lines, equal on two paper lines, and dearer on natural HDPE bottles, HDPE/LDPE film and white EPS cushioning. The cheapest plastic line differs: natural HDPE bottles in Oregon at USD 198.42, against clear PET bottles in Colorado at USD 330.69. Foam is the dearest plastic in both, at USD 3,042.38 per tonne for Oregon’s expanded PS containers, cups and trays and USD 3,791.95 for Colorado’s coloured EPS cushioning.

Oregon’s schedule carries further metal lines that SPI’s calculator rows do not hold: aluminium aerosols at 64.0 cents per pound and aluminium in other forms at 78.0 cents, against 6.0 cents for aluminium containers (CAA Oregon schedule). An aluminium aerosol thus pays more than ten times an aluminium can.

Only one Oregon line can be compared year on year from public documents. Wood and other organic materials fell from 108.0 cents per pound in 2025 to 105.0 cents in 2026, a 2.8% fall; CAA released the rest of the 2025 schedule through its producer portal (SPI fee-market note on Oregon). SPI has not yet confirmed a 2027 schedule for either state.

How Colorado builds eco-modulation into the rate

Colorado is the only one of the two that shows eco-modulation line by line. The detriment malus adds 5% for materials that disrupt recycling, the high recycling rate bonus takes 5% off, and AML items are set at least 20% above comparable MRL items (CAA Colorado schedule). Four active incentives, for recycled content, reuse or refill, reduction and enhancement, are claimed separately through the producer portal.

Colour is the cheapest lever a brand controls. Exhibit 5 sets the clear and pigmented versions of the same container side by side.

By SPI’s calculation, the pigmented PET bottle pays 2.68 times the clear one in Oregon (67.0 against 25.0 cents) and 2.87 times in Colorado (43.0 against 15.0 cents). SPI’s fee-market note on Oregon works one case through: a household cleaning brand with 30 tonnes of clear PET spray bottles owes about USD 16,535 on that line in 2026, and the same bottles tinted would owe about USD 44,310.

Scenario: what a film decision is worth

The scenario uses only CAA’s published 2026 rates in USD. The basket is a 100-tonne snack brand: 50 tonnes of film, 30 tonnes of paperboard and 20 tonnes of corrugated. Only the film line changes. The low case moves the film to HDPE/LDPE, which sits on Oregon’s PRO list and Colorado’s AML. The high case moves it to a multi-material laminate.

SPI calculation for the base case in Oregon: 50 x 2,248.72 + 30 x 176.37 + 20 x 176.37 = USD 121,254.50. The low case is 50 x 947.99 + 50 x 176.37 = USD 56,218.00. In Colorado the base is 50 x 1,410.96 + 50 x 176.37 = USD 79,366.50, the low case USD 61,729.50 and the high case 50 x 1,631.42 + 8,818.50 = USD 90,389.50.

Three points follow. Oregon prices PP film and laminates identically, so a laminate carries no extra Oregon cost but gives up the whole PE saving. Colorado separates them by USD 220.46 per tonne. And the base basket costs 52.8% more in Oregon than in Colorado, while a household-care basket of 60 tonnes of natural HDPE bottles, 20 tonnes of PP bottles and 20 tonnes of corrugated costs USD 32,187.80 in Oregon and USD 30,864.80 in Colorado, about 4% apart.

The registration states: California, Minnesota, Maryland and Washington

California: targets in statute, fees in the plan

SB 54 (Chapter 75, Statutes of 2022) requires producers of single-use packaging and plastic single-use food service ware to join a PRO and meet outcome targets set in law. The permanent regulations were approved by the Office of Administrative Law and took effect on filing on 1 May 2026, launching CalRecycle’s PEPRS portal (CalRecycle bulletin). Producers had until 1 June 2026 to join CAA, register as an independent producer or apply for the small producer exemption, because day 30 fell on a Sunday.

CAA submitted its PRO plan to the Advisory Board on 15 June 2026; CalRecycle shows no approval date and no fee start date. The Advisory Board next meets on 16 October 2026 in Sacramento (CalRecycle).

Plastic producers also fund the Plastic Pollution Mitigation Fund under PRC 42064: USD 500 million a year for ten years from July 2027, split 60% to environmental justice and public health and 40% to environmental impacts (CalEPA, via PR-US-004). The money can be spent only once the Legislature appropriates it.

The EPS food service ware restriction (PR-US-005) has applied since 1 January 2025, because EPS missed the 25% statewide recycling rate. CalRecycle states that it binds producers only, and its 26 August 2026 guidance confirms that an owner or licensee of a branded EPS item may be its producer, which brings private-label ranges into scope. The Attorney General’s advisory of 2 December 2025 cited administrative penalties of up to USD 50,000 per day per violation under PRC 42081(a). California’s SB 343 labelling rule (PR-US-011) is separate: a federal court enjoined its enforcement on 14 July 2026, and its tracker status is being updated in the 13 October check.

Minnesota: members since 2025, money from 2029

Minnesota’s Packaging Waste and Cost Reduction Act (PR-US-006), enacted as Laws 2024, chapter 116, article 5, required producers to be members of a registered PRO from 1 July 2025. MPCA accepted CAA’s initial registration as the PRO. The first stewardship plan is due on 1 October 2028, and from 1 January 2029 no producer may introduce covered materials without a written agreement under an approved plan (Minn. Stat. 115A.1448).

PRO fees must be set per ton or per item, net of commodity value, with eco-modulation for toxics, source reduction, reuse, post-consumer content and recyclability (Minn. Stat. 115A.1454). After 1 January 2032, covered materials must be reusable, refillable, recyclable or compostable with a matching collection system, though the PRO may petition for extensions to 1 January 2040.

Maryland: registered in 2026, a sales bar from late 2028

Maryland’s SB 901 (Chapter 431 of 2025, PR-US-007) took effect on 1 June 2025, with CAA as the PRO. MDE published its notice of final action on COMAR 26.04.14 on 15 May 2026, and its September 2026 compliance guide gives the rules’ effective date as 25 May 2026. The guide sets initial producer registration for 1 July 2026 and 30 June each year after; CAA asked members to register and report by 31 May 2026.

The guide also gives a sales prohibition date of 29 October 2028, or a later date MDE identifies, for covered materials not under an approved plan. The first plan is due on 1 July 2028, and producers face a duty to cut packaging waste by at least 25% within five years of first plan approval (§ 9-2505).

Washington: membership due, market access from 2029

Washington’s Recycling Reform Act (SB 5284, PR-US-008) was signed on 17 May 2025 as Chapter 316, Laws of 2025, and took effect on 27 July 2025. Chapter 70A.208 RCW required producers to appoint a PRO by 1 January 2026 and to be members, or register an individual plan, by 1 July 2026. From 1 March 2029, producers outside a PRO in good standing may not introduce covered materials.

The chapter builds in a political checkpoint. Draft plans go to Ecology by 1 October 2028, and the 2029 Legislature may amend the chapter or pursue other policy, such as a bottle deposit, before plans take effect (RCW 70A.208.010). Plan implementation starts on 1 January 2030, or six months after plan approval if that is later. Producer fees must discourage materials not on the statewide collection lists, which Ecology was to set by 1 October 2026 (RCW 70A.208.090 and .160).

Maine: a law without an operator

Maine’s Stewardship Program for Packaging (38 M.R.S. §2146, PR-US-001) was enacted by Public Law 2021, chapter 455, and amended in 2023 and 2025. It sets up a single stewardship organisation, chosen by DEP for a 10-year contract, which reimburses municipalities from producer payments. The Chapter 428 rule was adopted in December 2024 and amended in March 2026 to add the packaging material types list (Maine DEP).

RFP-202605094 was issued on 15 June 2026 and closed on 18 August 2026 without a proposal; DEP announced this on 20 August 2026. Every producer deadline runs from the contract date. Once running, producers register within 90 days, report tons by 31 May, are invoiced on 1 July and pay by 1 September. A sales bar starts one year after the contract takes effect.

Beyond the fee: Oregon's life cycle and exemption rules

Oregon’s law asks more of its largest producers than a payment. The 25 largest producers by weight must evaluate and publish the life cycle impacts of at least 1% of their covered products every two years (ORS 459A.944). Producers on both the August 2025 preliminary list and the March 2026 final list file by 31 December 2026; those added only on the final list have until 30 June 2027 (Oregon DEQ). Voluntary evaluations can earn fee bonuses: Bonus A for evaluation and disclosure, and Bonuses B and C for substantial impact reduction and moves from single-use to refill.

The private recycling exemption works the other way, by taking tonnage out of the fee base. Material collected privately, kept out of commingled processing and sent to a responsible end market can be deducted under ORS 459A.869(13). Tertiary corrugated cardboard accounted for 215,872 tons in the pooled 2026 volumes, and CAA’s 2026 schedule sets that line at 0.0 cents per pound against 8.0 cents for consumer corrugated (Oregon DEQ; CAA Oregon schedule). Claims for the 2027 fee year had to be filed between 6 January and 31 March 2026.

Who is in scope: seven tests

Thresholds differ in level and in kind, so a company can be exempt in one state and liable next door.

Both charging states offer a flat fee to low-volume producers.

A flat band is cheapest per tonne at its top. By SPI’s calculation, 7.6 tonnes in Oregon pays USD 5,800, about USD 763 per tonne, above the rate for most container lines in Exhibit 3. A small producer with mostly paper or glass may pay less on the full schedule; one with film or foam may not.

Exclusions also differ. Minnesota and Maryland exempt packaging for infant formula, medical food and FDA-regulated products; Oregon exempts drug packaging, Bottle Bill containers and infant formula packaging; Maine excludes Bottle Bill containers and durable-product packaging; California has de minimis and high recycling-rate routes with CalRecycle approval (SPI rule notes).

What non-compliance costs

The fee is the visible cost; the penalty is the reason to get producer identity right. Every state sets daily or per-violation amounts, and some escalate.

The calendar to 2032