2025 ICPHSO Annual Meeting and Training Symposium

Consumers and municipalities are poorly equipped to deal with the types and volume of waste that is generated when products and packaging have reached their end of life. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations/programs are one of the solutions that many countries globally are turning toward to better manage this problem.

When retailers, brands, and manufactures are assigned responsibility to fund and engage in management of these wastes, recycling can increase, while reducing resource consumption and emissions.

EPR is a timely topic, given it has become more active with EPR laws passed in 5 states recently on packaging and many others having legislative activity, while an EPR law for apparel/textile has been signed by the governor of California in the fall of 2024.

The intent of this session is to: raise awareness of this important type of regulation/program, help attendees get a better idea of how EPR may be applicable to them, provide some visibility into future regulations, and share ideas about how to start addressing these requirements.

The panel will share their knowledge, perspectives, and insights from their different position in the product life cycle, within a major retailer that must comply with many of these regulations (Canadian Tire), and skilled service provider focusing on EPR support (Accerio).

This session will give an overview of:

1. How EPR programs are generally set up / who is responsible for what actions / how funding
by obligated parties connects to the volume and type of product sales
2. Why they are beneficial and support circularity and sustainability
3. What are some of the existing EPR programs related to consumer products in the US and
Canada – an overview of this information has been compiled in a few slides to ease of
sharing, along with some additional resources
4. What is on the horizon in the U.S. and Canada? EPR for apparel?
5. Insights from the EU on EPR – can it affect North American companies?

In addition to helping attendees better understand how EPR programs work and how the landscape of regulations is changing the session will also:

6. Help them think about how to start addressing potential obligations
7. Provide insights from two companies dealing with these types of requirements from different
perspectives and how they work on compliance
8. Highlight the importance of data and provide recommendations
As part of the session, rapid polling will be conducted to gauge the attendees: familiarity with EPR,
level of existing activity in this topic, interest in EPR for specific product/packaging items, (and/or
other questions).