Regulation
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Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images
FDA gets feedback on proposed front-of-pack nutrition label
Meanwhile, the Consumer Brands Association continues to push for the existing industry-led Facts up Front label.
By Maria Rachal • July 21, 2025 -
Retrieved from YouTube.
Congressional hearing aims to leverage chemical recycling for economic value
Speakers from the American Chemistry Council, The Recycling Partnership and the Flexible Packaging Association previewed legislation and called for Congress to prioritize recycling efforts through economic policy.
By Megan Quinn • July 17, 2025 -
Katie Pyzyk/Packaging Dive
Packaging EPR questions circulate after first US state’s law goes live
To report, or not to report: That is an EPR question. Companies learned from their experiences with Oregon’s law, and speakers at the Packaging Recycling Summit shared strategies for easing data reporting and other EPR challenges.
By Katie Pyzyk • July 17, 2025 -
darak77 via Getty Images
Bag fees are more effective than outright bans, Closed Loop Partners says
All bags — plastic, paper or reusable — come with environmental tradeoffs. But bag fees are the sole legislative tool “guaranteed to reduce the number of single-use bags used,” Closed Loop Partners reported.
By Maria Rachal • July 16, 2025 -
Katie Pyzyk/Packaging Dive
Policy tension over on-pack recyclability labeling ‘needs to get worked out’
What's in a label? Good question. As the go-live date for California’s recycling labeling law approaches, industry speakers at the Packaging Recycling Summit underscored the importance of getting some federal standardization soon.
By Katie Pyzyk • July 14, 2025 -
Genevieve Isabelle via Getty Images
Where new packaging laws are taking effect in July
Multiple states are banning EPS foam food containers, and Oregon’s packaging EPR program begins. Elsewhere, there are bottle bill and hotel product updates.
By Maria Rachal • June 30, 2025 -
sgoodwin4813 via Getty Images
Rhode Island lawmakers replace EPR and bottle bill proposal with study bill
The bill, which overhauls a previous version establishing new recycling systems in the state, instead calls for a report and recommendations that might lead to future extended producer responsibility and deposit return system proposals.
By Megan Quinn • June 26, 2025 -
Katie Pyzyk/Packaging Dive
The last-minute scramble with EPR is like tax season, says CAA’s CEO
“There were sleepless nights” ahead of Oregon's producer reporting deadline, and another “big surge” is expected in the home stretch to Colorado’s deadline, said Circular Action Alliance’s Jeff Fielkow at the Packaging Recycling Summit.
By Katie Pyzyk • June 26, 2025 -
Brandon Bell via Getty Images
Texas approves law requiring warning labels for food additives
The legislation will apply to food product labels developed or copyrighted on or after Jan. 1, 2027. Future FDA action on labeling would have the potential to supersede it.
By Sarah Zimmerman • June 24, 2025 -
aimintang via Getty Images
Maine alters packaging EPR law, to industry’s relief
With LD 1423, groups wanted to bring Maine’s first-in-the-nation packaging EPR law from 2021 into closer alignment with more recent versions of EPR legislation in other states.
By Maria Rachal • June 24, 2025 -
tacojim via Getty Images
Illinois advances foam ban legislation, progresses on EPR study
The legislature this year considered bills addressing polystyrene foam food containers as well as single-use plastic bags and food ware items. Meanwhile, a recycling needs assessment study is in the works.
By Maria Rachal • June 23, 2025 -
Jeremy Poland via Getty Images
US senators call on EPA to study reuse, refill
Recycling policy advocates Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., are teaming up again, this time on the Reuse Act, to assess opportunities in consumer packaging, food service and more.
By Maria Rachal • June 20, 2025 -
Courtesy of New York State Senator Pete Harckham
New York legislative session ends without Assembly vote on packaging EPR
Packaging industry groups celebrated the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act’s failure to advance as the legislature’s formal session came to a close early Wednesday.
By Megan Quinn , Maria Rachal • Updated June 18, 2025 -
Boxed vs. bottled: Not all sustainability claims hold water, nonprofit says
The brand Boxed Water is Better agreed to change certain environmental statements on its packaging in response to a nonprofit’s review, which was requested by the International Bottled Water Association.
By Katie Pyzyk • June 17, 2025 -
Maria Rachal/Packaging Dive
California delays compostable packaging crackdown before USDA vote
In granting an extension in AB 1201, CalRecycle Director Zoe Heller said the “fluid status of stakeholders’ legal obligations would present a significant risk of market disruption and exacerbate consumers’ confusion.”
By Maria Rachal • June 16, 2025 -
Permission granted by Kristina Benoist/Product Stewardship Institute
The state packaging EPR club swaps stories as implementation advances
Lawmakers and regulators from California, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon and Tennessee shared insights on scaling up at a Product Stewardship Institute event last week.
By Maria Rachal • June 12, 2025 -
sergeyryzhov via Getty Images
Washington’s recycled content fines on producers drop
The state’s Department of Ecology last week announced it fined 23 plastic producers a combined $277,000, down from October’s initial round of fines when 35 companies were on the hook for $416,554.
By Maria Rachal • June 10, 2025 -
California advances bills to limit PFAS and other toxics in food packaging
Conversely, a bill to mandate tethered caps on plastic beverage containers, similar to a recent EU requirement, stalled at the halfway point of California’s legislative session.
By Maria Rachal • June 9, 2025 -
The image by Jimmy Emerson, DVM is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
‘A wild ride’: California EPR regulatory revision process advances
After reviewing new comments on SB 54, “while I can see we did some things well, there's some components of our regulations that are still going to need work” prior to formal rulemaking, said CalRecycle Director Zoe Heller.
By Maria Rachal • June 6, 2025 -
demerzel21 via Getty Images
Déjà vu? New York EPR bill unpopular with packaging groups awaits fate in Assembly
The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act has again passed the Senate. A host of trade groups that dislike the bill’s material restrictions and recycled content requirements have voiced support for an alternate bill.
By Maria Rachal • June 4, 2025 -
(2025). Retrieved from Flickr.
Hawai’i governor signs packaging EPR study bill
State lawmakers have been introducing EPR proposals for years. The study funded by the newly signed law is due to the legislature by the end of 2027.
By Maria Rachal • June 2, 2025 -
spwidoff via Getty Images
Will 2025 EPR laws pave the way for more packaging policy?
After Maryland and Washington recently adopted packaging EPR laws, leaders from Ameripen and the National Stewardship Action Council expect to see more policy action, including on bottle bills, in 2026.
By Maria Rachal • May 28, 2025 -
Joe Raedle via Getty Images
Trump administration orders reversal of plastics phase-out in national parks
A new order states that the rescission tracks with a February executive order to end procurement of paper straws.
By Maria Rachal • May 27, 2025 -
Stock Photo via Getty Images
CalRecycle unveils new SB 54 text; Wagoner out as CAA’s California lead
The agency will host a public meeting Tuesday to take feedback. Circular Action Alliance, the packaging EPR program’s PRO, plans to hire a new state lead as former CalRecycle director Rachel Wagoner steps aside.
By Maria Rachal • May 22, 2025 -
Cole Rosengren/Packaging Dive, data from TVW
Washington adopts seventh packaging EPR law in the US
All three West Coast states now have extended producer responsibility for packaging laws. Washington sealed the deal shortly after Maryland became the sixth state to adopt a packaging EPR law.
By Megan Quinn • May 17, 2025
