Extended Producer Responsibility: From Compliance to Product Sustainability
For years, the North American approach to compliance has been to treat it as a box to be checked. But now extended producer responsibility (EPR) is shifting that mindset. With EPR as the framework for emerging regulations, U.S. manufacturers are seeing product sustainability and product compliance coming together. And that means new strategies and solutions are needed to protect market access and reduce business risks.
What is extended producer responsibility (EPR)? It’s all about holding producers accountable for the entire life cycle of their products. EPR compels companies to measure and manage what happens after a product or its packaging leaves the factory floor so that taxpayers and governments aren’t carrying the cost of dealing with product waste or hazardous substances when a product reaches its end of life. It’s a practical, bottom-line approach to product sustainability.
EPR laws are already common in many EU countries, and now the trend has taken root in the U.S. Here’s what North American manufacturers need to know about EPR and how it’s driving a shift to product compliance and sustainability together. This includes a growing need for solutions that quantify, track, and reduce a product’s environmental footprint across carbon, circularity, and material sustainability dimensions.
From Linear to Circular: The Bigger Picture
Old-school life cycle models followed a linear track: make, use, and dispose of the product. In contrast, EPR follows the circular economy model, where materials are reused, recycled, and reintroduced into supply chains rather than wasted.
This evolution aligns perfectly with product sustainability, which requires life cycle and supply chain data to identify impacts and opportunities for improvement. In the EU, the Circular Economy Action Plan helps enforce the transition to this new model. Although there’s no overarching U.S. equivalent, new regulations at the state level are mirroring this shift. And even though U.S. federal sustainability regulations may not be moving quickly, more states are adopting EPR laws as a way to shift recycling costs from taxpayers to the companies placing packaging on the market.
It’s not a change manufacturers can make without support and expertise. It’s a challenge to engage suppliers and adapt supply chains to collect detailed product and packaging data for EPR compliance reporting. Yet having that data enables manufacturers to reduce costs, strengthen customer trust, and reach new markets.
Embracing a circular economy approach to supply chains means manufacturers can design products for recyclability, reduce carbon emissions, and develop a more sustainable supply chain that is resilient to external threats.
Compliance as a Sustainability Driver
EPR drives a measurable sustainability agenda across three critical areas:
- Product compliance: Regulations like the EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) and U.S. state packaging laws require manufacturers to track substances of concern and recyclability in order to quantify product impacts.
- Operational efficiency: Centralizing data collection for product compliance and sustainability reduces the administrative burden of reporting while creating a unified dataset.
- Sustainability goals: EPR accelerates product sustainability by embedding eco-friendly design, life cycle analysis, and supply chain visibility directly into compliance workflows.
In short, EPR transforms compliance from a defensive, reactive cost into a strategic capability that enables carbon reduction, circularity, and material sustainability improvements.
How U.S. Manufacturers Can Get Ahead of EPR Requirements
With EPR laws now active in 35 states and expanding, U.S. manufacturers are facing a fragmented regulatory landscape. EPR requirements in one state do not always overlap with another, meaning American businesses need to take a broader, more proactive approach to compliance.
The companies that succeed will be those that:
- Drive innovation in product design by using recycled or low-impact materials
- Grow a strong data foundation for future regulations vs. playing regulatory whack-a-mole whenever a U.S. state introduces new EPR legislation
- Have sustainable supply chains with strong visibility into the environmental footprint of parts and packaging
- Gain a competitive edge by moving quickly. Firms that build EPR readiness today can communicate compliance and sustainability to their customers while their competitors scramble to react to new requirements
- Differentiate themselves in the market by quantifying and communicating their products’ sustainability performance
- Reduce long-term costs and risks by minimizing waste and managing lifecycle impacts proactively
Assent helps manufacturers like you turn compliance data into sustainability insights so you can comply with EPR packaging laws and reap the benefits of product sustainability. With the Assent, you can:
- Map obligations across jurisdictions and streamline EPR reporting
- Automate life cycle and supply chain data collection for packaging
- Integrate compliance insights into product design and sustainability strategies
By bridging product compliance and sustainability, Assent helps you not just meet today’s EPR packaging requirements, but advance your product sustainability performance and build resilience for the future.
Speak to an Assent expert today to learn how EPR compliance can power your sustainability strategy.
