Circular Action Alliance Confirmed as the Producer Responsibility Organization for Minnesota

Circular Action Alliance’s (CAA) registration has been confirmed by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to be the producer responsibility organization (PRO) to implement the state’s Packaging Waste and Cost Reduction Act. In 2024, Minnesota was the fifth state to pass a law creating a statewide extended producer responsibility (EPR) program for packaging and paper products, and with the announcement becomes the third state to formally approve CAA as the initial PRO that will build and fund a program to manage packaging throughout the entire life cycle.

“We are honored to be confirmed by MPCA as Minnesota’s PRO and look forward to collaborating to advance the goals of the state’s ambitious EPR law,” said Jeff Fielkow, CEO for CAA. “Over the past three years we have been building tools, processes, plans, and a strong team to implement packaging EPR programs in California, Colorado, and Oregon. This work enables us to immediately find efficiencies for producers in Minnesota, and scale best practices so we can reduce waste and recycle more in the state and across the country.”

Under Minnesota’s Packaging Waste and Cost Reduction Act, CAA will coordinate producers to develop plans, implement the program, provide technical assistance to producers and report on progress. Producers will pay annual fees to CAA to cover no less than 90% of the costs to collect, transfer, sort, transport, or otherwise prepare packaging and paper products for refill, reuse, recycling, or composting by 2031.

In 2023, CAA became the first PRO approved to implement an EPR program for paper and packaging in the U.S. after being appointed as the PRO for Colorado by the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment. In 2024, CAA was approved by CalRecycle as the PRO for California and was also selected by the Maryland Department of Environment to represent producer interests and serve as the single PRO on the State Producer Responsibility Advisory Council. On December 6, 2024, CAA submitted its third and final revised program plan to the Department of Environmental Quality and is preparing for plan approval and implementation of Oregon’s Recycling Modernization Act (RMA) by July 1, 2025.