MEMBER ALERT: Washington Packaging EPR — Registration Deadline and Exclusion Option

Washington's Recycling Reform Act (SB 5284, 2025) required producers of residential packaging, paper products, and food serviceware to join a Producer Responsibility Organization by July 1, 2026. If your company has not registered or filed an individual plan, you are past that deadline.

The designated PRO

On March 4, 2026, the Washington Department of Ecology named Circular Action Alliance (CAA) as the nonprofit PRO for the program. CAA is the default compliance path for most producers.

How to register

Register through CAA's producer portal: circularactionalliance.org/registration

After registering, you report annually to the PRO. An interim state addendum and simplified reporting step was set for May 31, 2026. Confirm your standing on this when you register.

Alternative to joining CAA: register as your own PRO to implement an individual plan. Heavier lift, generally only worth it for large producers.

Potential separate track for petroleum and lubricants: Ecology has also approved Interchange 360 as an alternative collection program for producers of petroleum and lubricant products. Members whose antifreeze or other petroleum-based products already report through Interchange 360 should confirm which track applies to them rather than assuming CAA registration alone covers everything. While one possible reading of Washington state law is that registration is required with only the registered PRO (CAA in this case), not Interchange 360, consult your counsel regarding obligations to CAA, Interchange 360, or both.

If you missed July 1

It is recommended that you register through the appropriate entity or entities. Registration remains a route to getting compliant.

Fees

CAA will set an early fee structure for initial pre-program producer fees. The PRO owes Ecology an initial implementation payment by Sept. 1, 2026, with annual payments beginning May 1, 2027.

Possible exclusion for certain automotive chemical packaging

Washington's law allows a producer, group of producers, or PRO to petition Ecology for temporary exclusion of packaging in three categories: raw meat packaging that transfers pathogens on contact, packaging regulated under the federal Poison Prevention Packaging Act, and packaging where federal law makes inclusion in the Washington program infeasible or inadvisable.

Antifreeze products containing 10 percent or more ethylene glycol are subject to CPSC's child-resistant packaging requirement (16 CFR 1700.14), giving that packaging a possible basis to seek exclusion.

Windshield washer fluid is a second possible category. CPSC requires child-resistant packaging for household substances containing 4 percent or more methanol by weight (16 CFR 1700.14(a)(8)). Many washer fluid formulations, particularly winter and de-icing versions, exceed that threshold. Whether a specific member product qualifies depends on its actual methanol concentration and must be checked formulation by formulation, the same way antifreeze depends on ethylene glycol concentration.

Members are encouraged to review whether other automotive chemical packaging under the same CPSC rule may also qualify.

The petition deadline is currently estimated at Oct. 1, 2027, one year ahead of CAA's plan submission to Ecology. This date shifts if CAA's plan date changes.

An approved exclusion does not remove a producer from reporting. A producer whose product is excluded must report the same information directly to Ecology that would otherwise flow through CAA.

A petition may be filed by a producer, a group of producers, or CAA as the PRO. CAA does not need to file on members' behalf. The Association can help members organize a petition, but individual producers or producer groups would need to be the filer, not the association itself. Because a petition covers a product rather than specific producers, if a product is granted exclusion, all producers of that product benefit, not only the producer or group who filed.

The Association has questions pending with CAA and Washington Ecology on this option and will update members once answered.

Separate, more direct exclusion path: hazardous and flammable packaging

Washington's law also excludes certain packaging from the definition of covered material outright, rather than through the petition process described above. Under RCW 70A.208.020(19)(j), packaging used to contain products classified as hazardous or flammable under the federal OSHA Hazard Communication Standard (29 CFR 1910.1200) is excluded from the program if that hazard classification is what prevents the packaging from being made reusable, recyclable, or compostable, subject to Ecology's determination.

This is a separate legal mechanism from the exclusion petition process described above. It is a built-in category, not a case-by-case petition, and it may apply more directly to automotive chemical packaging than the antifreeze and washer fluid examples above. Many automotive fluids, including brake fluid and various lubricants, carry OSHA hazard classifications.

Ecology has opened rulemaking, WAC 173-950, that will define how the department makes this determination. This is a multi-year rulemaking process: the department filed notice in March 2026, held an initial stakeholder comment period in May and June 2026, and does not expect to issue a formal proposed rule until around October 2027, with adoption around April 2028. The current comment period is an early opportunity to shape the draft language, not a final deadline.

Comments on the current draft rule language are open through Sept. 2, 2026, 11:59 PM, submitted online through Ecology's comment portal: ecology.commentinput.com/?id=fuSCmsPi5. The draft rule language under discussion is posted at fortress.wa.gov/ecy/ezshare/SWM/Rulemaking/RRA/081926-RuleLanguage-DRAFT.pdf.

Ecology is also hosting a public rulemaking committee meeting on Aug. 19, 2026, from 1:00 to 4:00 PM Pacific, held virtually on Zoom. Registration: waecy-wa-gov.zoom.us/meeting/register/18bc1YYUSiuVqoKb7ftK7w. The Association is developing comments on this rulemaking and will keep members updated.

Questions about the rulemaking can be directed to Chris Fredley, SWM program rule coordinator, at chris.fredley@ecy.wa.gov or 564-233-1615. General rulemaking updates are also available by subscribing to Ecology's email list: public.govdelivery.com/accounts/WAECY/subscriber/new?topic_id=WAECY_366. The full rulemaking page, including the meeting timeline, is at ecology.wa.gov/regulations-permits/laws-rules-rulemaking/rulemaking/wac-173-950.

Timeline ahead

Preliminary needs assessment due Dec. 31, 2026. Full needs assessment Dec. 31, 2027. Ecology rules by 2028. CAA draft program plan Oct. 1, 2028. Beginning March 1, 2029, a producer that is not a member in good standing with a registered producer responsibility organization or has not submitted an individual plan may not introduce covered materials into the state. Program launch expected 2030.

Questions

CAA Producer Support (registration, reporting, fees): producer.support@circularaction.org

Washington Department of Ecology, Recycling Reform Act team: recyclingreform@ecy.wa.gov