How do I know if my business is subject to these EPR policies?

First, take our EPR Exposure Check quiz using the yellow button at the bottom of this page. It’s a quick series of around 8 questions to give you a preliminary read on where you stand. It takes around 90 seconds.

Who is obligated under EPR policies hinges around who is considered the “producer” of a product.

The term is confusing. It may sound like it means the factory that made the product, but that is not the case. Generally speaking, under every one of these EPR laws, the “producer” is the brand; the company whose name is on the product. There are category specific nuances that vary by state, which the Fiberside team can help identify for your specific case, but the examples below help illustrate the general point:

• →If you sell candles under your own label, you are the producer
• →If a store sells cereal under its house brand, the store is the producer
• →If you sell towels with your name on the tag, you are the producer
• →If you sell skincare products under your own label, you are the producer
• →If this is starting to feel a little like the Oprah meme “and you get a car, and you get a car”, then you are right (but you don’t get a car)

The theme in these examples represents the core takeaway of this new wave of EPR policies: if the product is sold under your name, you are the producer and are responsible for what happens to the product and packaging at the end of its life.

But what if it isn’t obvious?

Maybe a brand is overseas, or nobody is sure whose name counts? The laws answer this with a simple order of responsibility. The brand owner is always first in line. If the brand has no U.S. presence, the importer takes its place. Online selling counts. If you’re abroad, shipping direct to customers in states with EPR policies makes you the producer in that state, even with no U.S. office or warehouse. And generally speaking, the factory that made the product and the supplier that made the packaging are almost never the responsible party.

An important point on packaging...

One more thing that surprises people regarding these EPR policies: your packaging counts, even though you never made any of it.

The boxes your products ship in, the polybags, the mailers, the hangtags, the labels - under these laws, all of it is yours, because your product is the reason that packaging exists. That is the heart of these new EPR policies: if you profit from putting a product into the world, you now share the cost of recycling what those products leave behind.

Whether you agree with this approach or not, the logic behind it ties to demand and control. The factory only builds what it is told to build. The brand decides what the product is, generates demand for it, decides what it ships in, what materials get used, and how much of it enters the world. By handing an end-of-life bill to the brand, waste becomes a business decision: design less of it, or pay for it.

The other practical reason is control. Factories fulfilling customer demand are scattered all over the world, interchangeable, and virtually impossible for any individual state to track effectively. But the name of the product is right there on the shelf, or on the package. By placing responsibility where the demand is generated, EPR states try to simplify the control issue while incentivizing more sustainable, circular materials.

Remember: Each state’s law is different

Finally, keep in mind that each law measures your business differently. California’s packaging law looks at your California sales. Its textile law looks at your worldwide revenue. Oregon and Colorado look at both revenue and the weight of packaging you ship into each state. It is completely possible to be exempt under one law and obligated under another at the same time.

If you are still not sure where you stand after the Exposure Check, that’s where the Fiberside Obligation Assessment comes into play. We will give you a written confirmation, state-by-state, that will help your business understand if it is exempt or exposed - and what actions you have to take to stay compliant.

Reach out through the Contact Form in Section 07 and we will be in touch to help.