Written on: April 1, 2025 by Nicholas Georges
Managing waste from packaging through Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies has become a priority issue for legislators, regulators and consumer and environmental advocates. As a result, Industry has been tasked with finding pathways for compliance to these news regulations.
EPR is a policy tool in which government shifts the burden of cost for a product’s packaging at its end-of-life from the public to producers. In some cases, such as EPR for packaging, these policies also provide incentives for producers to incorporate environmental considerations into the design of its products and packaging. To date, five Statesi have passed EPR legislation for packaging, with similar discussions happening in other States across the country.
The Household & Commercial Products Association (HCPA) has been involved in every legislative proposal and regulatory implementation to represent Industry’s best interests; however, producersii must be aware of their obligations under each State’s law.
Although five States have passed EPR legislation for packaging, for purposes of this column, I’m going to focus specifically on how aerosol products are impacted in three States: Oregon, Colorado and California.
Oregon
Oregon’s EPR for packaging law, The Plastic Pollution & Recycling Modernization Act,iii was passed in 2021 and will bring changes to the State’s recycling programs later this year.
Circular Action Alliance (CAA) was selected as the Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) and its Program Plan was approved in February. Producers were required to register with and report to CAA by March 31, 2025.iv Please note: If you sell covered products in Oregon, but haven’t yet registered with CAA, do so ASAP.
While Oregon deemed aerosol products as recyclable, the Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) required them to be collected in drop-off programs and managed similar to hazardous waste. This generated concern among a wide variety of stakeholders, including Oregon municipalities such as the Portland metro area, which has been managing aerosols in curbside recycling programs. The cost of recycling empty aerosol containers through curbside programs would be significantly less than through drop-off and special treatment—meaning producer fees would be lower if the rest of Oregon follows the Portland model.
Oregon DEQ has delayed implementation of any changes to how aerosols are recycled in the State until 2028 to give CAA and interested stakeholders, such as the aerosol industry, time to figure out how to safely collect empty aerosol containers. HCPA and the Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) are engaging to help with this task so the regulations and Program Plan, including the fee schedule, can be updated by the 2028 deadline. Importantly, producers still need to report and pay fees on their aerosol products starting in 2025, with the fees targeted at system improvements to support increased aerosol recycling.
Colorado
Colorado’s EPR for packaging law, the Producer Responsibility Program for Statewide Recycling Act,v was passed in 2022. In the draft Program Plan that CAA submitted in February, empty aerosol containers are recognized as recyclable through curbside or drop-off programs (depending on what is available) and included on their draft Minimum Recyclables List.
Per the State’s regulations, producers in Colorado needed to register with CAA by Oct. 1, 2024, and producer reports are due by July 31, 2025. If you sell covered product(s) in Colorado and have not yet registered, do so immediately.
Colorado’s EPR for packaging law also requires CAA to set post-consumer recycled (PCR) content targets. For metal packaging, the proposed target is 40% PCR by 2030, which presents significant challenges for aerosols and other packaging sectors.
California
California’s EPR for packaging law, the Plastic Pollution Prevention & Packaging Producer Responsibility Act,vi was passed in 2022. Under California’s Dept. of Resources Recycling & Recovery (CalRecycle) updated Covered Materials Categories list, aerosol containers are designated as recyclable.
However, making things challenging in California is the implementation of another law, Truth in Recycling for Recyclable Materials,vii which claims the chasing arrows symbol (or a similar symbol or statement indicating recyclability) is deceptive or misleading unless the product or packaging is considered recyclable according to statewide recyclability criteria. Notably, being considered recyclable under California’s EPR for packaging law does not automatically transfer recyclability to the Truth in Recycling for Recyclable Materials law. As a result, all industries, including the aerosol products industry, are waiting for further guidance from CalRecycle on what claims can be made with respect to recycling.
This is a brief, high-level overview of how aerosol products are impacted under EPR for packaging laws in three States. Make no mistake—implementation of these laws is very complicated and there are plenty of guardrails in place to ensure that there are no “free-riders” within these programs. I encourage you to hold each other accountable by communicating throughout the industry and the supply chain to ensure that companies are meeting their obligations.
Implementation of these laws—and policy proposals in other States—is moving quickly. For more information, please contact me at ngeorges@thehcpa.org. SPRAY
