Eliminate multi-state EPR fee with an end-to-end audit and structural redesign strategy. In partnership with rePurpose Global, Zenpack combines automated regulatory forecasting with precision packaging engineering. We audit your SKU material footprints, pinpoint high-tier eco-fees, and engineer compliant, high-performance packaging.
Last updated: 09.2026, reviewed quarterly with rePurpose Global
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) law requires consumer brands to pay for the end-of-life collection and processing of their packaging. Instead of flat registration fees, state programs assess fees based on material type, weight, and recyclability.
For any brand selling into these states, EPR is no longer a future compliance issue; it’s an active cost line that gets more expensive the harder your packaging is to recycle.
What are the state-by-state EPR laws, deadlines, and fees?
CO fees live CA early invoicing (Aug) ME stewardship org selection (Sept) CA eco-mod factors published (Oct)
2027
CA fees begin
2028-2029
MD, WA fee schedules set; MN fees begin (~Jan 2029)
2030
WA full program live
2032
CA & MN full compliance targets due
How to redesign packaging to lower your EPR fees?
Redesigning packaging to use recyclable, mono-material formats is the most direct way to reduce ongoing EPR liability, and it typically reduces freight and fulfillment costs too.
Largest fee-tier drop available for shipping mailers
Does a redesign save money beyond the EPR fee itself?
Yes. Material swaps that lower EPR fees also tend to reduce freight and fulfillment costs, since recyclable formats are usually lighter and more compressible than foam or multi-layer plastic.
Flaviar switched from foam inserts to flat-folded corrugated and cut shipping costs by up to 60%, in addition to moving into a lower EPR fee tier.
Boomii paired a durable outer shell with a replaceable refill core, reducing the packaging material volume that EPR fees are calculated on with every reorder.
How do Zenpack and rePurpose work together on EPR compliance?
Zenpack and rePurpose Global run a joint offering that closes the gap between compliance data and packaging execution.
rePurpose provides regulatory tracking, fee forecasting, and compliance modeling. Zenpack provides structural design and manufacturing.
Together, the two halves cover a brand’s full path from raw SKU data to a redesigned, compliant product on shelf.
What organizational problems cause EPR compliance to fail?
Three bottlenecks show up most often in brands new to EPR:
Incomplete Material Data
Tracking material types and exact weights across hundreds of SKUs by hand is slow and error-prone.
Shifting state deadlines
Registration, reporting, and fee deadlines differ by state and change as programs mature, making a single internal tracker hard to maintain.
Unpredictable Cost
Without a forecasting model, brands don't know their fee exposure until the invoice arrives, which makes redesign decisions reactive instead of planned.
Fees are based on the weight and material type of packaging a brand sells into a state, using an eco-modulation model: harder-to-recycle materials (multi-layer plastics, foam, PVC) sit in higher fee tiers, while recyclable materials like corrugated, paper, and mono-material plastics sit in lower tiers.
Redesigning packaging into a lower fee tier, replacing multi-layer plastic, foam, or thermoformed trays with mono-material or paper-based formats, has the most direct impact on fee exposure, since fees scale with both weight and material recyclability.
rePurpose Global provides regulatory tracking, fee forecasting, and compliance modeling. Zenpack provides structural redesign and manufacturing. The two run as one process, a brand’s compliance data feeds directly into the packaging redesign rather than passing between separate vendors.
Ready to lower your EPR fees?
Get a fee calculation and redesign plan for your SKUs.
