Packaging EPR is live in seven states. Most small sellers aren't on the map.

Seven states have enacted packaging EPR: CA (SB 54), CO (HB 22-1355), OR (SB 582), ME, MD (SB 901), MN, WA — covering ~1/5 of US population. Producers (brand owner, importer, or distributor — determined by where the product is SOLD) must register with a Producer Responsibility Organization (Circular Action Alliance in CA/CO/OR/MN/MD), report packaging weight by material, and pay eco-modulated per-pound fees. OR fees began Jul 1, 2025; CO fees Jan 2026; CA fees Jan 2027 on a $1.2–1.8B 2027 program; annual supply reports were due May 31, 2026 across CA/CO/OR with simplified reports in MN/MD/WA. De minimis thresholds differ by state (CA <$1M CA sales; CO <1 ton or <$5,632,843; OR <5 tons or <$5M; ME/MN <1 ton or <$2M; WA <1 ton or <$5M; MD TBD). Most small sellers selling into those states have never registered, have no packaging-weight data, and learn about EPR from a marketplace notice or a PRO invoice. IL is WATCH only — bills introduced, no enacted law as of Nov 2026; we never sell IL as an obligation.

I map packaging obligations for online sellers, so here is the part that catches almost everyone: seven states have now enacted packaging extended producer responsibility laws — California, Colorado, Oregon, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington — together covering about a fifth of the US population. Under these laws the “producer” who must register and report is decided by a hierarchy: the brand owner first, then the importer, then the distributor. If you sell your own branded goods nationally, that producer is very likely you — whether or not any state has ever contacted you.

Most small and mid-size sellers are simply not on the map. They do not know which of the seven states they are obligated in, which ones they might be exempt in, and which are watch-only. That unknown is the risk: registration duties, packaging data reporting and deadlines accumulating quietly in states you only ever think of as shipping destinations.

Here is how I put you on the map, in order. One: a 15-minute intake — the states you sell into, your revenue, your packaging types and weights, any registrations you already hold. Two: the checker scores your readiness state by state, and an analyst reviews the edge cases by hand — producer hierarchy, marketplace sales, private label. Three: your pack lands in 5 business days. The Audit is $149: a readiness score per state, an obligated / likely-exempt-review / watch map, and a gap list. The Pack is $449: the Audit plus the registration map with the exact producer responsibility organization and steps per state, a packaging data pack with the weight-by-material workbook structure populated from your inputs, a 12-month reporting calendar, and an evidence index. Sentinel is $79 a month for monthly re-scores, deadline alerts and a digest when states pass new laws or publish fee schedules.

The honest beat, stated before you pay anything: we never file, register or pay fees on your behalf. You — or your counsel — file; I hand you the map, the data pack and the calendar that make filing a clerical task instead of a research project. And if you sell only inside one state that has no EPR law, the map will say so — you may need nothing more than the watch, and I would rather sell you the $79 watch than a $449 pack you do not need. This is readiness work, not legal advice.

You built a store to sell products in all fifty states, not to track seven state packaging regimes. Tracking them is a defined, flat-priced job — mine. Start with the Audit and find out, state by state, exactly where you stand.