SB 901 · enacted 2025

Maryland packaging EPR: what you owe and when

Packaging and Paper Products Producer Responsibility Plans Act. Current phase: Registration; producer responsibility plans due July 2028.

Facts last verified 14 September 2026.

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Am I covered

For packaging sold in Maryland the producer is, in order: the manufacturer if the item carries its own brand or no brand, then the licensee, then the brand owner. Only where none of those is in the United States does it pass to the importer, and then to whoever first distributes the item into Maryland. For online sales, whoever packs the item to ship it is the producer of the shipping packaging.

Source: Maryland Code, Environment Article section 9-2501 , Environment 9-2501(p)(1). Verified 14 September 2026.

The exemption

A de minimis producer is not covered: one that, in its most recent fiscal year, introduced less than 1 ton of covered material into Maryland or earned global gross revenues under $2,000,000. Also excluded: government bodies, 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations, a single retail store with no online sales that is not part of a franchise or chain, restaurants headquartered in Maryland that are not producers of food serviceware, and licensed alcoholic beverage businesses with under $10,000,000 of gross revenue in the preceding calendar year.

Source: Maryland Code, Environment Article section 9-2501 , Environment 9-2501(j) and (p)(2). Verified 14 September 2026.

What the threshold is measured against

Either de minimis test is enough. The tonnage test counts covered material introduced into Maryland; the revenue test uses global gross revenue, not Maryland sales. The statute does not say whether 1 ton is a short ton or a metric ton.

Source: Maryland Code, Environment Article section 9-2501 , Environment 9-2501(j). Verified 14 September 2026.

What you owe

Registration

Join the approved producer responsibility organization, or register with MDE and file an individual producer responsibility plan. A producer may not sell or distribute products using covered materials in Maryland unless it is registered with the organization or has an approved individual plan. Producers not in the organization register with MDE from July 1, 2026 and every year after, and individual plans are due by July 1, 2028.

Source: Maryland Code, Environment Article section 9-2505 , Environment 9-2505(a)(1) and (b)(1). Verified 14 September 2026.

Who runs the program

Circular Action Alliance, the approved producer responsibility organization. The law allows another nonprofit to seek designation as an additional organization only from July 1, 2033.

Source: Maryland Department of the Environment, Producer Responsibility , Environment 9-2502(a) and 9-2505(a)(2). Verified 14 September 2026.

Reporting

Each year producers report their brands and their covered materials by MDE category and weight shipped into Maryland in the previous calendar year: to the producer responsibility organization if they are members, or to MDE if not. From July 1, 2029, each producer or organization with an approved plan reports annually to MDE on materials collected, audited program costs and progress on performance goals.

Source: Maryland Code, Environment Article section 9-2509; MDE Compliance Guide for Regulations COMAR 26.04.14 (Rev 1, September 2026) , Environment 9-2509(a) and (b); COMAR 26.04.14. Verified 14 September 2026.

Fee schedule

Maryland has not published a final fee schedule. Maryland has not set producer fees. We will not fill that gap with another state's numbers or a national average, because a budget built on either is wrong in a way you cannot see.

Eco-modulation

Required but not yet in force. The producer responsibility organization's fees must be higher for covered materials not on the state's list or with low recycled content, and discounted for listed materials or high recycled content. The organization must publish a proposed fee for 90 days of public comment first, and MDE says the rules setting eco-modulation will come in later regulations.

Source: Maryland Code, Environment Article section 9-2505; MDE Compliance Guide for Regulations COMAR 26.04.14 (Rev 1, September 2026) , Environment 9-2505(e)(3). Verified 14 September 2026.

Timing: the year you sell is not the year you pay

Not yet confirmed. When Maryland producers are first invoiced. Fees come in later regulations and the producer responsibility plan. We would rather show you a gap than a plausible number.

If you do not comply

$5,000 for a first violation and $10,000 for a second (administrative penalties), and a $20,000 civil penalty for a third or later. MDE must first send a written notice of violation and give 60 days to fix it; after that each day the violation continues is a separate violation.

Source: Maryland Code, Environment Article section 9-2512 , Environment 9-2512. Verified 14 September 2026.

Recent changes

May 25, 2026: MDE's first producer responsibility regulations, COMAR 26.04.14, took effect, covering the producer definition, exempt materials, material categories, registration and record keeping.

Source: MDE Compliance Guide for Regulations COMAR 26.04.14 (Rev 1, September 2026) , COMAR 26.04.14. Verified 14 September 2026.

July 2026: MDE posted the producer responsibility organization's first list of registered producers and brands for Maryland.

Source: Maryland Department of the Environment, Producer Responsibility , Environment 9-2505(a)(1). Verified 14 September 2026.

Other state guides

Run your own numbers

Enter what you supply into Maryland, in pounds, against this state's own reporting categories. You get a fee with the public document behind every rate it used.

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