EPR policies in the US are beginning to move beyond packaging as states experiment with programs targeting waste streams that have historically lacked recycling systems, panelists said during the recent Plastics Recycling Conference in San Diego.
Speakers at the 2026 Resource Recycling Conference the week of Feb. 23 highlighted several emerging initiatives covering materials such as plastic boat wrap in Minnesota, household hazardous waste in Vermont and petroleum product containers in Colorado. The programs reflect a broader policy push to shift disposal costs from municipalities to producers while establishing collection and recycling systems for products that typically fall outside curbside recycling.
“There’s a lot of talk at this conference about packaging EPR,” said Andriana Kontovrakis, director of EPR solutions at Reverse Logistics Group. “But EPR is not new to the US.”
Kontovrakis noted that product stewardship programs already exist across multiple categories. She said 24 states have electronics EPR laws, 15 states have battery programs and 13 states regulate paint through stewardship systems.
Minnesota’s boat wrap program, implemented last fall, shows how states are targeting narrow but significant waste streams. Sarah Bonvallet, operations program coordinator with Reverse Logistics Group, said seasonal boat storage generates millions of pounds of plastic film each year in the state, most of which has been landfilled.
The new law requires producers selling boat wrap in the state to participate in a stewardship organization to fund collection and recycling. Collection sites include marinas, storage facilities, transfer stations and other locations connected to the boating industry.
Once collected, the plastic film is consolidated at regional facilities capable of baling material before it is sent to recyclers. Handling the material presents logistical challenges because of its size, weight and seasonal generation patterns, Bonvallet said.
The program aims to recycle 50% of boat wrap by 2030 and 80% by 2035. Officials are still working to determine how much boat wrap is sold statewide, which makes it difficult to measure progress, she said.
Vermont is developing a program for household hazardous waste that will require manufacturers of certain products to fund statewide collection systems that were previously financed by municipalities. Covered materials include flammable aerosols, automotive chemicals, propane cylinders and other consumer products that meet the state’s definition of hazardous waste.
Colorado, meanwhile, is targeting petroleum and automotive containers such as motor oil bottles. David Lawes, CEO of producer responsibility organization Interchange 360, said the industry is building a separate collection network designed to keep oil containers out of traditional recycling streams.
“We are going from zero to one,” Lawes said when describing the effort to build infrastructure for the program, noting that collection and processing networks often do not yet exist.
“Going from zero to one is way harder than going from 30 to 50,” said Lawes.
Oil containers must be shredded and residual liquids removed before the plastic can be pelletized and sold into manufacturing markets.
“It’s amazing how much liquid and residual oil comes out of an empty oil container,” he said.
Speakers said early implementation efforts highlight both the opportunities and the challenges of expanding EPR policies to materials that traditional recycling systems struggle to handle.
“This is not a sprint, even though sometimes it feels like a sprint,” Bonvallet said. “It’s a marathon.”
