Oregon EPR fees up to 76 cents per pound, California draft schedule higher

🇺🇸 Flexible packaging is about 20% of the US packaging market. For the first time, there's serious investment behind recovering it.   Store drop-off at major retailers has carried US soft plastic recycling this far. EPR is what takes it to the next level, and it's arriving fast: → Seven states now have packaging EPR laws. Oregon's fees went live in July 2025, Colorado followed in 2026, and California launches January 2027. → California's SB 54 sets the most ambitious target of all: every covered package recyclable or compostable by 2032, with plastic hitting a 65% recycling rate by category. That's a steep climb from today, and it will drag the whole system forward. What this means if you sell in the US: confirm EPR registration in every state where you sell, and model the fee difference between your current materials now, ahead of the 2027 California launch. Getting in early is the cheap way to do this, the gap between recyclable and non-recyclable design only widens from here.   Full breakdown → https://lnkd.in/gm3Tx-C4 #Recycling #SustainablePackaging #EPR

Is it time to stop using glue and labels on paper? EU packaging rules may force the question The BBC has highlighted a growing debate in European packaging circles: whether traditional glue‑on labels should give way to direct‑print, fibre‑integrated, or water‑soluble identification technologies. With the EU tightening rules on recyclability, packaging waste, and material separation, the humble paper label is suddenly a compliance talking point — and a design challenge. 📦 As EU packaging regulations continue to evolve, manufacturers are being pushed to rethink long‑standing conventions. Adhesives and laminated labels can complicate fibre recovery, contaminate recycling streams, and increase processing costs. In response, innovators are exploring glueless paper technologies, laser‑marking, embedded watermarking, and mono‑material packaging that simplify recycling and reduce waste. For compliance teams, sustainability leads, and packaging engineers, this is more than a technical tweak — it’s a strategic shift. The direction of travel is clear: design for recyclability, minimise composite materials, and ensure every component of packaging earns its place. The question is no longer “Can we keep using glue and labels?” but “Why would we, when cleaner, compliant alternatives are emerging?” 🔗 Full BBC article: https://lnkd.in/dDqpCP3J #PackagingInnovation #EURegulations #Sustainability #ProductCompliance #CircularEconomy #DesignForRecycling #PaperPackaging #EcoDesign #TQIF

Sustainability used to be the last question in a supplier audit. Now it's often the first. More of the specs landing on our desk have recycled content, carbon reporting or material traceability written into them. Not as a nice-to-have. As a condition of the quote. For a moulder, that changes the job. Recycled material doesn't behave like virgin. Flow, shrinkage and colour consistency all shift, and a part signed off on virgin resin will not automatically hold its tolerance at 30% recycled. It has to be re-proven on the press, with data to show it holds. That's the part most people underestimate. It isn't buying a different sack of pellets. It's re-validating a process and proving the part still does its job, shot after shot, at the tolerance the drawing asks for. One thing worth knowing if you put plastic packaging on the market: the Plastic Packaging Tax rules on what counts as recycled content are due to change from 2027, and a factory's own production scrap is expected to stop counting toward the 30% threshold. Plenty of manufacturers have been closing the loop on their own regrind and assuming that covers them. It won't. If sustainability has moved to the front of your spec, bring us the part and the target. We'll tell you straight what's achievable and what isn't, before you commit a tool. Injection moulding and assembly in Consett, County Durham. 60 years and counting. #UKManufacturing #InjectionMoulding #Sustainability

📢 Flexible plastic collections have been delayed... so what does this mean for your packaging? The UK Government has announced that mandatory kerbside collections for flexible plastic packaging in England will now begin in 2030, rather than 2027. While the timeline has changed, the direction of travel hasn't. Businesses still need to design packaging with recyclability in mind and stay on top of an evolving legislative landscape. For OPRL members, it's business as usual. Our current labelling guidance remains unchanged and we'll continue to monitor developments, keeping members informed of any future updates to labelling rules or guidance as the recycling infrastructure evolves. Whether you're navigating pEPR, Simpler Recycling, RAM or future labelling requirements, staying informed has never been more important. 👉 Read our latest blog to understand what this announcement means for your business, your packaging and your recycling labels: https://hubs.la/Q04qfsf00 #SimplerRecycling #FlexiblePlastics #Packaging #Recycling #PackagingDesign #CircularEconomy #Sustainability #PackagingCompliance #pEPR #OPRL

California's SB 54 just moved from theory to obligation. On May 1, 2026, the Office of Administrative Law approved the permanent regulations for the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act. They are now in effect, and the deadlines are no longer abstract. Producer registration closed June 1. The baseline producer report, built on 2023 data, is due July 1. If your brand sells single-use packaging or single-use plastic food serviceware into California, you are already inside the compliance window whether or not your team has mapped it. The numbers set the direction. By 2032, producers must cut single-use plastic by 25 percent, make 100 percent of covered packaging recyclable or compostable, and hit a 65 percent recycling rate for single-use plastic. Funding the shift is a 5 billion dollar commitment from industry, roughly 500 million dollars a year from 2027 through 2037, administered by the Circular Action Alliance as the state's sole producer responsibility organization. What makes SB 54 significant is its scope. It does not treat the takeout container and the cosmetic compact as separate problems. Both are single-use plastic. Both count against the same reduction targets. A foodservice operator replacing foam cups and a beauty brand rethinking a rigid ABS compact are now answering the same regulatory question: can this material be recyclable or compostable at scale, without redesigning the entire supply chain. That last constraint is where most transition plans stall. Compostable claims mean little if the material demands new molds, new tooling, and new capital. The credible path forward is drop-in material substitution, where a biodegradable resin runs on existing equipment and existing part geometry. Compatibility, not novelty, is what turns a 2032 target into a 2027 shipment. SB 54 is the clearest signal yet that packaging sustainability is now a financial and legal line item, not a marketing one. The producers who treat this June and July as the start of a six-year runway, rather than a missed deadline, are the ones who will still have California shelf space in 2032. #SB54 #EPR #SustainablePackaging #CircularEconomy #Foodservice #BeautyPackaging #Biodegradable #PlasticReduction #PackagingIndustry #Compostable #SupplyChain #CosmeticsPackaging

The Swiss are known for precision, and their new packaging ordinance is nothing if not precise. VerpV sets out recycling targets, recycled-content thresholds and take-back rules with characteristic exactness. However, while it’s similar to the EU's PPWR legislation, it’s not identical. In our latest blog, we take a closer look at the new regulations, and what they suggest about the future of packaging sustainability: https://lnkd.in/dZaMeyxR #Packaging #SustainablePackaging #CircularEconomy

Packaging EPR laws are continuing to grow across the U.S., and brands now have to look more closely at what their packaging is made of, how it’s labeled, and what happens after it reaches the consumer.    In a new @Packaging Insights article, our CRO @Sahar Mehrabzadeh shares how this change is creating a need for stronger packaging data and more intentional material decisions.    For Bay Cities, this is where thoughtful packaging makes a real difference, helping brands balance compliance, cost, sustainability, and the consumer experience.    Check out the full article: https://lnkd.in/eifvQNwR    #PackagingInsights #EPR #SustainablePackaging #SB54 

📦 Have fibre-based composite producers been overpaying their pEPR fees? New analysis from Beyondly suggests exactly that: https://lnkd.in/eSmkjauJ Their research (led by Charlotte Davies, Dr. Liz Wood and Alex Hilton, commissioned by ACE UK) found that the current £461/tonne fee for fibre-based composites (FBCs) could be significantly overstated - potentially as low as £369/tonne once the numbers are corrected. That's a possible overpayment of between £6.3 and £13.7 million across the UK in the last year alone! 😬 The issues? A few assumptions baked into the fee model: 🔹 FBCs assumed to have the same bulk density as corrugated cardboard (often not the case) 🔹 The market split overstating low-density liquid cartons vs non-liquid formats 🔹 No allowance for compaction, so volumes look bigger than they really are 🔹 FBCs often misreported as paper and card in the first place It's a frustrating reminder that EPR fees are only as fair as the data and assumptions behind them. Getting material classification and reporting right isn't just a compliance box-tick, it directly affects what businesses pay. 💷 This is exactly why accurate, well-structured packaging data matters so much right now. If you're not confident your materials are classified correctly, or want to understand where your EPR costs are really coming from, that's exactly the kind of thing we help with at Reath! Curious whether your FBC packaging might be caught up in this? Let's talk! 👇 #EPR #ExtendedProducerResponsibility #SustainablePackaging #recycling #sustainability

California's SB 54 stopped being a future problem on May 1, 2026. That is the day the Office of Administrative Law finalized the permanent regulations. The first producer registration deadline closed June 1. The compliance clock is now running, and non-compliance carries penalties of up to $50,000 per violation, per day. Most coverage frames this as a recycling law. It is not. Read the 2032 targets carefully: 100% of single-use packaging must be recyclable or compostable, 65% of single-use plastic must actually be recycled, and total single-use packaging must drop 25% through source reduction. That last number is the one that reshapes supply chains. You cannot recycle your way to a 25% cut in material. You have to redesign or replace it. This is where foodservice and beauty packaging converge, even though they rarely sit in the same conversation. On the foodservice side, single-use plastic food serviceware is explicitly covered. Foam cups, plastic cutlery, and conventional takeout containers are the most exposed categories. Compostable starch-based cups and bio-based cutlery are no longer a sustainability talking point. They are a way to move a SKU out of the reduction obligation entirely. On the beauty side, the problem is harder. Compacts, caps, and closures are often ABS, a durable plastic prized for finish and precision but with no realistic recycling stream. ABS components quietly inflate a brand's single-use plastic footprint under exactly the definitions SB 54 uses. Substitution has stalled for one reason: reformulating means re-tooling, and molds are expensive. The more useful question for 2026 is not "which states are next." Maine, Oregon, Colorado, Minnesota, and Washington already answered that. The question is whether your material strategy can hit a source-reduction target without rebuilding your tooling. Drop-in biodegradable materials that run on existing ABS molds change that math. So do compostable formats that replace foam without a new supply chain. Full program implementation begins January 1, 2027. The brands treating this as a redesign problem now, rather than a reporting problem later, will spend the next 18 months with a real advantage. #SB54 #EPR #SustainablePackaging #PackagingDesign #CircularEconomy #Biodegradable #BeautyPackaging #Foodservice #PlasticPollution #Compostable #CPG #Sustainability

California’s plastics regulations are changing fast. With AB 2253 and SB 54, manufacturers must do more than simply use recycled content—they must verify it, document it, and communicate it with confidence. For blow molders, brand owners, and packaging manufacturers, compliance is becoming a competitive advantage. Companies that establish robust recycled-content strategies today will be better positioned to meet customer expectations, reduce risk, and navigate future regulatory requirements. Our blow molding team helps organizations understand recycled-content requirements, evaluate materials, improve traceability, and develop practical compliance pathways. Need guidance on AB 2253, SB 54, recycled-content verification, or sustainable packaging strategies? We're here to help. Check out our webpage - https://bit.ly/3R5zs3A #Recycling #Sustainability #CircularEconomy #PlasticPackaging #BlowMolding #Manufacturing #RegulatoryCompliance #SB54 #AB2253 #RecycledContent #PackagingInnovation #EnvironmentalCompliance