Pioneering EPR Policies in the United States

Waste is a growing issue in the United States that can be potentially aided with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) methods. This paper analyzes the current inventory of all EPR policies across the US. The analysis consists of the bill author’s political party affiliation, state partisanship, enactment year, and the item as influencing a state’s ability to pass pioneering legislation. It was found that Democrat authors and state partisanship are more likely to pass EPR bills, while there was no correlation with the year, although the enactments do follow a cyclical pattern. This research and conclusion should incentivize policymakers to enact EPR policies for products that do not have waste mitigation strategies.