The Product Stewardship Institute's founder, Scott Cassell, told the Massachusetts EPR Commission that extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws shift financial and managerial responsibility for post-consumer products and packaging from governments to producers, and described elements that effective EPR laws commonly include.

"EPR is a law that extends a producer's financial and managerial responsibility for its products and packaging beyond the manufacturing stage," Cassell said in a prepared overview of the policy model. He described full EPR as producer-funded and producer-managed systems that set performance goals, create stewardship plans, and establish producer responsibility organizations to implement collection, processing and end-market development.

Why it matters: the commission is charged by statute to develop recommendations for the Legislature; Cassell and MassDEP staff framed EPR as a tool to create sustainable funding for recycling and hazardous-product management, reduce contamination, and incentivize product and packaging design changes over time.

After presentations, commissioners discussed sequencing and workload. Members agreed on a proposed roadmap (motion passed): start with paint, then mattresses, lithium-ion batteries, electronics, and finish with plastics/packaging. Commissioners also voted to form subcommittees focused on the more complex categories (packaging and electronics) to allow deeper work in parallel with full-commission meetings; staff noted subcommittees must comply with Massachusetts open meeting laws and be publicly posted.

Commission staff described an iterative drafting process for product recommendations: staff will circulate draft language before meetings; the commission will use "temperature checks" and a numerical "scale of agreement" in meetings to indicate support and identify issues to resolve before finalizing recommendation language for public review and commission votes.

Members urged the commission to pursue both near-term, well-established programs (for example, paint and mattresses, which have multiple state models) and sustained work on more complex topics (packaging and plastics). Several members noted that existing bills and models from other states could be adopted or adapted and that the commission could recommend specific bills or endorse pending legislative language when appropriate.

Public commenters asked that meeting materials, member lists and packets be posted online ahead of meetings and that the commission include clear enforcement and accountability mechanisms in its recommendations. Staff said they would post materials, publish pending bills for review and coordinate commission work with the Solid Waste Master Plan update.

The commission set its next meeting to begin work on paint and instructed staff to circulate related bills and program materials in advance.