Minnesota Becomes the Fifth State to Approve EPR Packaging Law

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Summary

On May 21, 2024, Minnesota took a significant step toward sustainable waste management. Governor Tim Walz signed the Packaging Waste and Cost Reduction Act, making Minnesota the fifth state in the US to establish an EPR legislation for packaging.

What Happened?

The new legislation, part of a broader budget bill, mandates that producers bear responsibility for the lifecycle of packaging materials. The law aims to reduce packaging waste through improved design, recycling, and composting.

Who’s Affected?

Depending on context, Minnesota’s law defines producers as brands, packaging manufacturers, or distributors. Notably, mills that use virgin wood fiber in their products or paper mills producing cardboard out of 100% recycled materials are exempt from this definition.

What is the Scope?

By 2032, all packaging in Minnesota must be reusable, recyclable, compostable, or managed through an approved alternative collection system. Unlike earlier drafts, the final legislation does not set specific performance targets. Instead, a future needs assessment will help determine potential targets for recycling, composting, waste reduction, reuse, return rates, and post-consumer recycled content usage. Specific packaging, such as infant formula and medical equipment, is exempt from the program.

Implementation Timeline for the EPR Packaging Law

Broader Context

Minnesota’s EPR law aligns with similar initiatives in other states. Oregon and California’s programs will start on July 1, 2025, Colorado’s on January 1, 2026, and Maine will begin producer payments in 2026. Prominent supporters of Minnesota’s framework include Ameripen, the Flexible Packaging Association, and the Consumer Brands Association. The American Forest & Paper Association opposed the legislation.

How RLG Can Help

Navigating new regulatory landscapes can be challenging. If you have questions about Minnesota’s EPR Packaging Law or are uncertain about your business’s next steps, RLG is here to help. Our experts stay up-to-date with the latest regulations in the U.S. and internationally, ensuring your business remains compliant.

First Steps

The first step in complying with the new legislation is understanding your business obligations (or lack thereof). To aid producers with this process, RLG conducts hundreds of legal assessments each year. We clarify obligations and offer actionable insights.

Next Steps

Like other states with packaging EPR laws, Minnesota will require producers to report packaging data to Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs). This will require producers to collect, verify, and collate packaging data according to specifications. The reporting requirements of each state with packaging EPR will likely be different. It may take many months to prepare packaging data for reporting properly.

Please reach out to us today to discover how RLG can leverage the 50m+ SKUs in our packaging database to fill data gaps, verify accuracy, and identify opportunities for savings. Introductory data management packages start at less than $1000 (US).

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Les Griffith - Speakers

Business Development Director
RLGA

Les Griffith is currently the Business Development Director at RLGA and is tasked with expanding the company’s data management offerings for packaging EPR in the Americas. Les has over 30 years of industry experience in Environmental Services, Extended Producer Responsibility and Reverse Distribution. Les has spent these last 30 years working with organizations to develop progressively more sustainable solutions to the management of end-of-life materials. Prior to joining RLG, Les spent eleven years at Covanta most recently serving as the Business Development Director for the Healthcare Solutions division. His group covered North and Central America and specialized in providing a suite of services to healthcare PROs, take-back services to retail pharmacy and law enforcement and environmental services to the healthcare sector and reverse distributors. Prior to Covanta Les spent 10 years at Waste Management Inc. as an Area Manager for their Healthcare Solutions group.

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Andriana Kontovrakis - Speakers

Director of Compliance Services
RLG

Andriana Kontovrakis is the Director of Compliance Services for Reverse Logistics Group’s US team.  She manages a team responsible for ensuring manufacturer and retailer customer compliance with EPR laws for electronics, batteries, packaging, household hazardous wastes, and other consumer products across the US. Along with RLG partner the Household and Commercial Products Association, she is spearheading the development of the Household Product Stewardship Alliance, a stewardship organization forming under the guidelines of Vermont’s HHW EPR law.  Prior to working with RLG, she was a Policy Analyst with the global electronics recycler Sims Lifecycle Solutions where she managed programmatic implementation and customer and supplier accounts for the US EPR compliance unit and the Deputy Director for Waste Prevention for the NYC Department of Sanitation.

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