Am I Required to Register for EPR? A 5-Question Checklist

The most common first question brands ask about packaging EPR is: "Are we a manufacturer?" That is not the relevant question. The relevant question is whether producer responsibility under state law attaches to your business — and that depends on brand ownership, importing, licensing, distribution, and covered-material thresholds, not on whether your company operates a factory.

The five questions below will identify whether your brand has existing or imminent EPR registration obligations in any active U.S. state. Most brands that are obligated do not know it yet.

Question 1: Do You Sell Packaged Goods Into an Active EPR State?

Most national brands already sell into at least one active EPR state — often without realizing it. Seven states have enacted packaging EPR legislation with operative or approaching obligations: California, Oregon, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Maryland, and Washington. If your products reach consumers in any of these states through any channel, you are inside the geographic scope of at least one EPR program.

This applies regardless of where your business is headquartered. Physical presence in the state is not required. Selling there is sufficient — through retail, e-commerce, marketplace, or distribution. A brand that sells exclusively on Amazon is likely already shipping into all seven states.

If yes: continue to Question 2. If you genuinely sell into none of these states, EPR registration is not currently a live obligation — though that will change as programs expand.

Question 2: Where Does Producer Responsibility Attach in the State Hierarchy?

Every active EPR state uses a tiered hierarchy to determine which entity bears producer responsibility. The hierarchy generally runs in this order — and obligation attaches to the first identifiable tier with a relevant nexus to the state:

Private-label retailers occupy a specific position in this hierarchy: because EPR laws assign obligation to whoever owns the brand on the package, a retailer selling products under its own store label is classified as the producer — not the upstream contract manufacturer. The same logic applies to franchisors: under Maryland and Oregon rules, the franchisor — not franchisees — bears producer responsibility.

If your brand appears on packaging sold in an active EPR state, or if you import finished goods whose foreign brand owner has no U.S. presence, producer responsibility likely attaches under at least one state hierarchy.

Question 3: Is What You Sell Covered Material?

Many brands incorrectly assume that "packaging" means only the product container itself. In practice, active EPR programs can extend across secondary packaging, shipping materials, food service ware, paper products, and promotional materials — with different scope rules in each state. Most programs cover primary packaging (the unit-level container), secondary packaging (multipacks, retail-ready cartons), and consumer-facing shipping packaging. But scope diverges significantly beyond that baseline.

Several categories require specific analysis:

• Food service ware — cups, lids, clamshells, cutlery — is covered in California, Oregon, and Colorado, but not in Maine. Multi-state food brands must maintain different inclusion rules by state.
• Paper products and printed materials — catalogs, flyers, promotional inserts, direct mail — are covered in Oregon, Colorado, Minnesota, Maryland, and Washington, but not in California. A paper catalog mailed to consumers is a reportable covered material in five states and entirely outside California's scope.
• Shipping packaging for e-commerce — the outer box or mailer used to deliver an online order — is the responsibility of the entity that physically packages and ships the item, not necessarily the brand that manufactured the product inside.
• Promotional materials bundled with products — branded sleeves, header cards, belly bands — may be in scope when functioning as packaging, but similar materials distributed separately may only trigger obligations in paper-product states.

California's covered material categories are particularly granular — classified by material class, form, and plastic content — meaning misclassification can produce incorrect exemption conclusions even for low-volume materials.

Question 4: Do You Exceed a Revenue or Volume Threshold in Any Active State?

Most EPR programs include de minimis exemptions for very small producers, typically tied to global revenue or annual covered material tonnage. But those thresholds are not harmonized — and the metrics themselves differ in ways that can produce counterintuitive results. Exemption analysis is not centralized. Brands must evaluate thresholds separately in each state.

*Colorado's revenue threshold is indexed to inflation and may adjust over time. Verify current figure with CAA.

The metric difference matters operationally. California measures in-state revenue — a brand with $4M global revenue and $2.5M in California sales is exempt in Oregon but fully obligated in California. Every other state measures global gross revenue, which is a different figure entirely and typically easier to exceed. A brand exempt in one state can be obligated in five others simultaneously.

Volume thresholds — based on annual weight of covered materials — add a second layer: states differ on whether to include only consumer packaging, also paper products, or food service ware in the tonnage calculation. A brand that believes it falls below the ~1 ton threshold based on primary packaging alone may be over it once paper promotional materials are included.

Question 5: Have You Already Seen Any of These Signals?

Many brands that are already obligated first discover it not through a self-assessment, but through an external signal — from a retailer, distributor, PRO, or internal audit function. These signals are operationally meaningful: they indicate that counterparties already believe your products are in scope, and that your non-compliance is becoming their risk.

Any one of these signals is sufficient reason to conduct a formal producer status assessment. Multiple signals appearing simultaneously indicate that EPR exposure is already active — not hypothetical.

Why Brands Get This Wrong

The most common misconceptions that lead brands to incorrectly conclude they are exempt:

• "We're too small." Thresholds are lower than most assume — California's starts at $1M in-state sales. A brand generating $3M nationally with meaningful California distribution may already be obligated there.
• "Amazon handles it." Amazon is responsible for its own shipping packaging in FBA. It is not responsible for your branded product packaging. That obligation stays with the brand owner regardless of fulfillment channel.
• "Our supplier is registered." Packaging manufacturers do not register on behalf of the brands whose products they produce. Registration follows brand ownership — not production relationships.
• "We're not a manufacturer." EPR producer status follows the brand on the package, not the factory that made it. Outsourcing production does not transfer compliance obligation to your contract manufacturer.
• "We only sell online." E-commerce sales into active EPR states are fully in scope. Marketplace and DTC sellers are not structurally different from retail brands under producer hierarchy rules.
• "Our packaging is recyclable." Recyclability affects eco-modulation fees — not whether you are a covered producer. Brands with fully recyclable packaging still have registration and reporting obligations.

If the Answer Is Yes

If working through these five questions indicates that your brand is a covered producer in one or more active EPR states, the immediate operational priorities are: confirming your producer status under each applicable state hierarchy, identifying which covered materials and packaging categories apply, verifying whether you exceed revenue or volume thresholds in each state, and initiating PRO registration before enforcement windows activate.

Producer registration is not the end of the compliance process — it is the beginning. Registration opens the door to annual supply data reporting, packaging material classifications, source reduction obligations (including California's August 3, 2026 ISR Plan deadline), and ongoing fee payments. But it is the necessary first step, and most of the operational work that follows depends on knowing your producer status clearly before it is assumed by someone else in the distribution chain.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Producer status determinations depend on specific facts and applicable state law. Always verify current obligations with the relevant state agency, producer responsibility organization, and qualified legal counsel. Orbitlex is not a law firm.