Appeals take time. Comment windows close this fall.

What happened

• NAW filed a notice of appeal to the Ninth Circuit on September 24, challenging the August 27 decision. As of September 27, no stay pending appeal has been reported; the program continues.
• Judgment for the state was entered August 28; Holland & Knight reads that as ending the February 6 preliminary injunction ("effectively dissolved by the entry of judgment"). Its scope had been narrowed in April 2026 to NAW members as of February 6.
• Third RMA rulemaking is out for comment. Deadline 4 p.m., October 30, to RMARulemaking3@deq.oregon.gov. Hearings October 20 at 10 a.m. and October 21 at 6 p.m. EQC adoption anticipated January or February 2027. Scope includes Responsible End Market clarifications, Recycling Acceptance List changes covering plastic packaging, pressurized cylinders and glass collection, the "effectively composted" definition, convenience standards, transportation cost reimbursement, producer obligation clarifications and new covered product exemptions.
• CAA's third Oregon program plan amendment is separately out for comment until 5 p.m. Pacific, October 19, to RethinkRecycling@deq.oregon.gov. It changes a key metric from diversion rate to pounds of USCL commingled material collected per household, adds a statement allowing CAA to update glass packaging fees if the regulations change, updates the Specifically-Identified Materials sections to reflect DEQ's April 1, 2026 removal of that designation for glass and shredded paper, and adjusts covered material classifications.
• CAA updated its searchable registry of Oregon producer members on September 22.
• CAA published Oregon's 2027 fee schedule on October 1. It returns about $80 million in program reserves and $3 million in previously collected SIM fees to producers through reduced rates, invoiced in two halves, January and July 2027. Glass bottles and jars carry a base rate of $0.04 per pound and, after reserve drawdowns, a final rate of $0.00.

Why it matters — Two separate documents, two separate deadlines eleven days apart, both changing what gets reported and what it costs. Read the glass clause alongside the rulemaking: DEQ's notice put the 2026 glass fee at $0.10 per pound and projected a partial reduction in 2027; CAA's 2027 schedule, published since, lists a $0.04 base rate. The final rates include reserve drawdowns CAA describes for 2027; plan beyond 2027 from the base rates.

Action — Calendar October 19 and October 30 as two items, not one. Check your formats against the proposed exemption list in the draft rules. Confirm your entity and brands appear correctly in the updated registry. Former injunction beneficiaries: confirm your position for the injunction period; see the update below the deadline table.

What happened

• CalRecycle published Guidance for Submitting a Categorically Excluded Materials Notice for Food and Agricultural Commodity Packaging on August 27. Filed through the PEPRS portal, by a company or by an association on behalf of members. The submission must identify the packaging and its function, tie it to specific products, cite the federal food and agricultural requirements that conflict with the Act, and show no reasonable alternative packaging avoids the conflict. CalRecycle notifies a filer within 90 days if a notice is incomplete. Once a notice is deemed complete, the exclusion applies to the identified packaging in association with the specified products or class of products, without each company or brand filing individually, and CalRecycle lists it on its website. CalRecycle may later request supporting information and, if it finds the packaging does not qualify, that packaging becomes covered material 180 days after notification.
• CAA opened comment on the draft California Funding & Services Agreement and three Project Schedules — Services, Cost Reimbursement and Capital Investment — running August 26 to October 24.
• CAA's California page carries October 13, 2026 for the PRO's submission of the final draft program plan to CalRecycle, in a timeline it attributes to CalRecycle. CalRecycle's own SB 54 pages still publish no date for its approval action.
• Governor Newsom vetoed SB 1180 on September 20. It would have set spending rules for the Plastic Pollution Mitigation Fund, including caps on indirect-cost reimbursement and state administrative costs and annual public expenditure reporting. The veto message said the work is already underway and the bill risked complicating implementation.
• CAA issued California early-fee invoices from 2025 supply data in late August. Payment terms run from the invoice.
• CAA published a 2027 California fee schedule on October 1 and marks it preliminary: the rates are non-binding until the program plan is approved. Fees are to be invoiced 50% in January and 50% in July 2027, with a separate January invoice for the Plastic Pollution Mitigation Fund portion. CAA's forecast puts 49¢ of every 2027 producer-fee dollar into the mitigation fund.

Why it matters — The categorical-exclusion guidance is a formal procedure for excluding specific packaging from SB 54, and it is narrow by design: a conflict with federal food and agricultural requirements, not a commercial inconvenience. The veto leaves producers funding the mitigation fund from 2027 with less published detail about how it will be spent — and on CAA's preliminary forecast, the fund is the largest single use of California fees.

Action — If you have ever argued that a food or agricultural format cannot comply because federal rules govern it, this is the prescribed procedure. Check CalRecycle's list once it is posted, because a complete notice covers the identified packaging whoever filed it, and keep your own documentation, because an exclusion can be reviewed after the fact. Read the Funding & Services Agreement as a fee document and comment by October 24. Take payment dates from your invoice, not from a tracker.

What happened

• MDE issued Rev 1 of the Producer Responsibility — Packaging and Paper Products Regulations Compliance Guide and FAQs, dated September 2026, an FAQ and clarification document for COMAR 26.04.14.
• Confirmed in Rev 1: a de minimis producer is one that in its most recent fiscal year either introduced less than 1 ton of covered material into the State or earned global gross revenues of less than $2,000,000. Registration was due July 1, 2026 and is due annually by June 30 thereafter. Individual Producer Responsibility Plans are due July 1, 2028, or a later date identified by the Department. From October 29, 2028, or a later date identified by the Department, a producer may not sell, offer for sale, distribute or import covered materials for use in the State without an approved responsibility plan on file for each covered material.
• Records must be kept a minimum of five years and produced within 15 business days, or on a timeline MDE specifies, whichever is later.
• The guide also covers food serviceware definitions, the packaging-versus-paper-products boundary, exempt categories and alternative collection programs.

Why it matters — The de minimis test is disjunctive. A producer under 1 ton qualifies regardless of revenue, and a producer under $2,000,000 in global gross revenue qualifies regardless of tonnage. Read with an "and", it sends exempt producers into registration.

Action — Re-test your Maryland position against Rev 1 rather than the June version, and re-check your packaging-versus-paper-products and food serviceware classifications while you are in the document. Confirm you can produce records inside 15 business days.

What happened

• No ruling on either injunction motion. NAW v. Ryan (D. Colo., 1:26-cv-03460-PAB) remains in briefing following NAW's August 5 motion; docket trackers report the state's opposition filed September 16 and a scheduling conference October 21. ILMA's separate state-court motion, filed August 18 in Denver District Court, seeks relief for its members only and expressly does not seek to halt the program. None of this is confirmed from the docket here, and no relief has been granted anywhere.
• CDPHE published no packaging EPR documents, notices or comment periods in the window. An amendment to 6 CCR 1007-2 Part 1 §1.8 concerning producer responsibility authorization and the dollar-limit exemption is listed among proposed rulemakings with no dates attached.
• CAA published the 2027 Colorado dues schedule on October 1, the rule's deadline. Dues will be invoiced in two halves, January and July 2027, and the rates include the passive eco-modulation factors state law requires.
• Operationally the program is scaling — funding agreements with Cortez, Dolores and Oak Creek announced September 16, plus five service agreements, including one with Boulder County. The state's three largest haulers — Republic Services, Waste Connections of Colorado and Waste Management — have not signed.

Why it matters, and what to do — Nothing about Colorado obligations has changed, including the two-registry point covered last month. The 2027 dues schedule arrived on the rule's deadline (6 CCR 1007-2 Part 1 §18.9.2); the 2026 schedule had been published October 13, 2025. Run your 2026 supply data through the 2027 rates and plan cash for the January invoice.

What happened

• DEP announced on September 11 that it is revising the RFP. Its statement in full: "The Department is currently reviewing necessary updates to the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Stewardship Organization and will inform stakeholders once the revised RFP is available." No revised timeline and no target date.
• This follows the August 18 close with zero bids and CAA's decision not to bid. The original RFP was published through the Office of State Procurement Services Vendor Self-Service System; DEP has not said where the revised one will appear.
• Chapter 428 remains in force, including the §9(B) presumption that packaging is received by the consumer unless the producer can verify otherwise.

Why it matters, and what to do — A rewrite is a longer path than a re-run. Nothing to file, no date to work against, and no basis for assuming relief — an unbuilt program is not an exemption. If your eventual Maine figure will exclude unsold stock returned unopened, the documentary verification Chapter 428 requires has to be preserved now, while the transaction records are still live.

What happened

• MPCA opened public comment on the draft 2026 Needs Assessment on September 14; it closes November 13. The draft was prepared by Eunomia Research & Consulting and submitted through MPCA's comment portal.
• Contents include a recycling rate baseline, collection and end-market investment recommendations, a recommended methodology for service provider reimbursement rates, sustainable design evaluation and education best practices.
• Rulemaking under Minn. R. ch. 7035 has still not produced a draft; the last formal step remains the request for comments published May 26.

Why it matters, and what to do — The reimbursement methodology is the cost base for a program under which service providers must be reimbursed at least 50% of net cost by February 1, 2029, and it is open for comment now, more than two years before that floor applies. Nothing to file; comment by November 13 if your material categories are unusual or your collection story is poorly represented in the baseline.

What happened

• The second informal comment period on draft Chapter 173-950 WAC language, opened August 5, closed September 2. Advisory Committee meeting #2 was held August 19.
• CAA published Washington's 2027 early fee schedule on October 1: eight simplified material categories, from $0.002 per pound for glass and ceramics to $0.030 for wood and other organic materials. Early fees fund program development, startup and regulatory costs under the Recycling Reform Act.
• The preliminary needs assessment remains due December 31, 2026; the full assessment follows at the end of 2027.
• The formal track is unchanged: CR-102 around October 2027, hearings about December 2027, adoption around April 2028.

Why it matters, and what to do — The next formal comment opportunity is more than a year out, and the fee basis will come from the needs assessment rather than the rule text. No filing. Keep Washington simplified supply data current and watch the December 31 assessment.