Seven US states have enacted extended producer responsibility for packaging: Maine (LD 1541, signed 12 July 2021), Oregon (SB 582, 2021), Colorado (HB22-1355, signed 3 June 2022), California (SB 54, chaptered 30 June 2022), Minnesota (HF 3911, approved 21 May 2024), Maryland (SB 901, approved 13 May 2025) and Washington (SB 5284, signed 17 May 2025). Producers must join a producer responsibility organisation, report packaging placed on the market and pay fees that fund collection and recycling.
The first producer obligation to bite was Colorado's registration deadline of 1 October 2024, and the first operating programme with fees was Oregon's, which launched on 1 July 2025 under a plan approved by Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on 21 February 2025; Colorado dues became payable from 1 January 2026 and California's first producer deadline fell on 1 June 2026. Maine's programme is stalled because no organisation bid by the August 2026 deadline to run it day to day. No eighth state had enacted packaging extended producer responsibility (EPR) by September 2026; New York's bill died in the Assembly in January 2026. There is no federal plastics or packaging law; according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), 10 states ban single-use plastic bags and Virginia lets local governments tax them, and many cities have their own bans or fees.
Status as at September 2026: all seven laws adopted; Oregon and Colorado programmes operating and invoicing, California in its first reporting year, others in implementation. Dates verified against Oregon DEQ's Recycling Modernization Act page and the state legislature bill records for each enacting state on 23 September 2026.