Mass. EPR advisory group begins fact-finding on plastics and packaging; producers, municipalities differ on costs and timing

The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) advisory group convened in a virtual meeting to gather factual information about proposed EPR programs for plastics and packaging in Massachusetts. Scott Cassell of the Product Stewardship Institute summarized U.S. and international EPR models and implementation experience, while state Department of Environmental Protection staff and representatives from industry, haulers and advocacy groups asked clarifying questions about costs, reimbursement and timelines.

The meeting’s purpose, facilitator Jennifer Hauck of Greener U said, was fact-finding: “this meeting and subsequent [meetings] is all about fact finding,” and the group was charged with compiling research the full EPR Commission will use in future deliberations. The commission must deliver initial recommendations to the Legislature by Jan. 15, 2026, a deadline participants cited repeatedly.

Cassell framed packaging as a large and changing portion of municipal waste, saying the sector is undergoing “a paradigm shift” and that packaging accounts for roughly 40% of the waste stream when paper is included. He described two common EPR approaches used in North America: a producer-funded reimbursement model that keeps municipal collection arrangements, and a model where a producer…