EPR is Here: What’s Next? 

States with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation already in place include California, Oregon, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington—and more are coming.

EPR requires brands, and retailers with private label product ranges, to track, record and report on their packaging materials. Most grocery retailers are increasingly prepared, but the health, beauty and cosmetics specialists might not be as ready. Some might not even realize it’s about to hit them like a freight train.

For example, California’s SB 54 (Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act) is already one of the most stringent EPR regulations globally. So anyone selling cosmetics in California, whether through a store in a Pasadena mall or online to a customer in San Diego, will potentially face significant fees as well as significant fines for non-compliance, of up to $50,000 per violation, per day.

This is a huge step for the U.S., which has never faced a reporting requirement of this scale before. 

All beauty brands, including retailers with private label cosmetics ranges, will need to ensure that they have real-time, 100% accurate data to use for their EPR reporting. 

Many will also have to think about a packaging redesign—with packaging sustainability as the primary driver rather than an afterthought. Small packaging containers are difficult to recycle, but this is slowly changing. Alternatively, retailers and brands may wish to consider reusable solutions instead.

The good news is that this ties in with the growing demand, most notably among younger consumers, for more sustainable packaging options. While reusable/refillable cosmetics packaging can increase the cost of the first purchase, shoppers’ growing desire to be sustainable will encourage greater brand loyalty.

Beauty brands and retailers will also have to ramp up how they educate and communicate with consumers on responsible disposal. People need to know what to recycle (by state/municipality) and how and what’s refillable or reusable and what isn’t. When people put packaging in the recycling rather than the trash because they think it’s recyclable, when in fact it isn’t, all it does is interfere with the process.

Historically, beauty products have steered away from recyclability, recycled content and reusability under the guise of ‘luxury.’ However, luxury and excess tread a fine line, and a huge amount of non-recyclable plastic packaging for a lipstick or small bottle of perfume is detrimental for the planet. 

But perhaps of more immediate importance for the businesses behind those products, it’s going to mean they face a huge hit to the bottom line from EPR. It’s down to them to do everything they can to mitigate it.

About the Author: Gillian Garside-Wight is Director of Consulting at Aura Global, bringing over 25 years of experience in the packaging industry.