Exploring EPR Legislation: State Innovations and National Trends
Date: April 15
Time: 2:00-3:30 EST
Location: Zoom (register here)
This webinar will explore the evolving landscape of EPR legislation in the U.S., highlighting key state programs, policy developments, and implementation challenges. PSI’s CEO and Founder, Scott Cassel, will provide an overview of national EPR trends, followed by state-level insights from Oregon, Minnesota, and Illinois.
Speakers will discuss the 2025 Oregon Battery EPR bill, Minnesota’s newly enacted Packaging EPR law, and Illinois’ approach to electronics, pharmaceuticals, paint, and battery stewardship. The session will feature expert perspectives from policymakers and program administrators actively shaping EPR policies and will include a lengthy question and answer period. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of legislative successes, lessons learned, and strategies for effective EPR implementation. This session is ideal for waste and recycling professionals, government policymakers, industry stakeholders, and environmental advocates interested in how EPR is driving sustainable materials management across the country.
Speakers
Employed as the Recycling Coordinator with Will County for nearly 20 years, Chair of the Illinois Product Stewardship Council, serves on the National Recycling Coalition (NRC), and is a member of Illinois’ Statewide Recycling Needs Assessment Advisory Council. She also serves on the Illinois Electronics Task Force. Marta has been involved with recycling since 1988 and offered the state’s first residential electronics recycling event in 1996. Over the years, she has served at President of the Illinois Recycling Association and as President of the Illinois Recycling Foundation.
Sara Kirby | Senior Policy Planner, Metro Oregon
Sara is a senior policy planner at Metro Regional Government covering the greater Portland, Oregon area where she manages projects focusing on multifamily services, bulky waste and Extended Producer Responsibility. Sara’s work often involves collaborating across jurisdictional lines with city and county partners to implement policies and programs reaching the 1.7 million residents of the region.
Mallory Anderson is the Packaging EPR Coordinator at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Mallory leads implementation of the new Packaging Waste and Cost Reduction Act, which requires producers to fund a statewide program that will result in all packaging being refillable, reusable, recyclable, and/or compostable by 2032. Prior to the agency, she has worked in solid waste and policy for Hennepin County, Minnesota. At the county she supported the business recycling program including the food waste requirements. She has a B.A. in environmental studies from UMN-Duluth and a M.S. in environmental management and policy from Lund University, Sweden.
Scott Cassel has over 40 years of experience addressing waste management issues in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. In 2000, he founded the Product Stewardship Institute, a policy expert and consulting nonprofit that pioneered product stewardship in the United States and has helped enact 141 EPR laws across 20 product categories in 33 states — the bedrock of the circular economy. Prior to founding PSI, Scott served seven years as the director of waste policy and planning for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, where he developed and implemented solid and hazardous waste management policies and programs. As PSI’s CEO, he developed the widely acclaimed facilitation process that the organization uses for stakeholder engagement and consensus-building — a process that resulted in the nation’s first industry-run, government-mandated paint stewardship program. In 2022, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) appointed Scott to its Marine Debris Foundation board of directors, where he works on policy, infrastructure development, and innovative technologies to clean up and prevent pollution of our waterways and ocean.