Welcome to the Buttercup EPR Community!
Working together is the fastest way to get unstuck on EPR compliance. Ask questions. Share interpretations. We’ll all get to May 31 together (really, June 1)… somehow!
Hi, I’m Marty Grohman. I am an EPR consultant based in Maine, and I’m building this as a place for people who work on Extended Producer Responsibility in the US and Canada to share knowledge, ask questions, and stay current on the regulatory landscape.
I was around for the early days of LEED(R) and this feels the same to me. The goals of the legislation are good ones, but being a practitioner is hard. There are a lot of misconceptions; lots of policies that sound good on paper but are hard to put into practice in reality; and almost everyone has an “edge case” (packaging tape, anyone? Peel off films and adhesives? Lumber wraps that are removed in the store before display?); and we all need to help each other figure it out.
Who this is for
I’m mostly focused on packaging EPR, but if you work on EPR from any angle, this is your place:
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Compliance and sustainability staff at producers (packaging, paper, batteries, paint, mattresses, electronics, textiles, lumber & building products)
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Consultants and advisors
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PRO or SO (Producer Responsibility Organization) team members
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Trade association staff
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State and provincial agency people
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Academics and policy researchers
You don’t have to be an expert. None of us really are yet. Some of the most valuable questions in here are some of the most basic ones (what if my sales grow in California – or, what if my business didn’t exist in 2023 — actually, that one’s complicated…)
What you’ll find here
I attempted to organize by jurisdiction (Maine, Oregon, Colorado, California, Minnesota, Washington, Maryland, plus catch-alls for other US states, Canadian provinces, and EU/International) with tags for material type and topic. Ask about reporting deadlines, registration thresholds, eco-modulation, definitions, fees – anything. (I can tweak this and add or change categories as I figure out how to make it work best and would appreciate suggestions).
About the structure
This community is free. I’m paying for good, secure, long-term professional forum software called Discourse, because I want this to be a real resource. I am just trying to get this up and running to help. At some point I may add a subscription tier but for now I just want to build the supportive community, so thanks for being here. Please start by posting or answering a question.
Reach me
I’m [@marty] here on the forum. Direct message me anytime, or email me at [marty@buttercup-epr.com]