Implication of EPR on suppliers to retailers

General
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One of the implications of EPR is the waterfall of responsibility in the law as to “who is the producer?” California’s SB-54 for example uses this language:

"A ‘Producer’ means:

  1. a person who manufactures a product that uses covered material and who owns or is the licensee of the brand or trademark under which the product is used in a commercial enterprise, sold, offered for sale, or distributed in the state;

  2. if there is no person in the state who meets this definition, then the producer of the covered material is the owner or, if the owner is not in the state, the exclusive licensee of a brand or trademark under which the product using the covered material is used in a commercial enterprise, sold, offered for sale, or distributed in the state;

  3. if there is no person in the state who meets either of the above definitions, the producer of the covered material is the person who sells, offers for sale, or distributes the product that uses the covered material in or into the state."

So if CAA or the state cannot find a brand owner or a licensee in the state they can hold accountable to be the producer, the buck stops with the retailer or distributor or whoever actually shipped the packaged products into the state. The backstop is the person selling the packaging product and the pressure is on them to either pay the associated fees or work to find someone else who should.

The implication of this being that suppliers can expect retailers or distributors to start putting EPR language in their supply contracts demanding that their suppliers demonstrate that they’ve registered with CAA as the responsible producer and are current with their EPR obligations or potentially pay the retailer fees for not doing so … or even be excluded from distribution into EPR states. Also expect contractual obligations to supply data and be audited by those retailers or distributors so they can cover their own risks.

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Very insightful. I talked to a major grocery chain about this, relating to their private label brand. They are expecting considerable fees.
I also talked to a major supplier of bath and body products that sells through Amazon – the expectation is that Amazon will start getting them their sell-thru data, but I bet it won’t be free…

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The ones who are going to take it on the chin are brands with products that have high packaging to product weight ratios. Like multilayer packets of seeds in the garden center or plastic blister packs for mechanical pencil leads. If you are selling a not so expensive item and your packaging weighs substantially more than your product, better buckle up and find something to hold onto.

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I think one of the biggest impacts will be in pet food, because those multilaminate foil faced films used to keep moisture sensitive foods shelf stable are the hardest to recycle, and thus have the highest fees.