If you follow extended producer responsibility (EPR) litigation, your inbox has been full of updates about Oregon. For good reason: the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW) filed suit in federal court in July 2025 challenging the constitutionality of Oregon’s Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act, secured a preliminary injunction in February 2026, and has a trial date set for July. That’s high drama with potential real ramifications (although the court did rule that the injunction only covered entities who were members of NAW when the injunction issued and the court has denied at least one motion by other groups to intervene in the lawsuit as plaintiffs). The recent release of lists of compliant and non-compliant entities was also quite unexpected.
While everyone is focused on the Pacific Northwest, a second packaging EPR lawsuit quietly landed in Colorado, one of the other states with more advanced EPR programs. It deserves serious attention from manufacturers and distributors operating anywhere in the country.