The Packaging
Standards Compass
A shared view of how customer packaging requirements and state EPR laws interact, and an exploration of how industry could solve the gaps between them.
Founding Partner: Atlantic Packaging
Sign up for the three sessions.
The Compass was introduced at Packaging Matters at SEE Change on September 17 and is now taking sign-ups. Session 1 is for brands and their supply chain partners; Session 2 focuses on the companies that set packaging requirements and is open to everyone; Session 3 brings everyone together. Register once; participants receive the calendar invitations and joining details.
- Wed, Oct 28 · 1:00–2:00pm ET · Brands
- Fri, Nov 20 · 1:00–2:00pm ET · Customer requirements (open to everyone)
- Fri, Jan 8 · 1:00–2:00pm ET · Convergence
- No fee
Form not loading? Open the registration form in a new tab, or email dave@opln.org.
No one has a map of this landscape.
Extended Producer Responsibility is rewriting packaging economics state by state. Material choices, recyclability claims, and design decisions now carry real financial consequences. At the same time, major customers set their own packaging requirements, each with its own definitions, thresholds, and enforcement practices, each evolving at its own speed with little coordination.
The hard part is where the two meet. A brand has to design packaging that satisfies divergent state EPR regimes and the often contradictory expectations of its customers at once, and guidance can differ even between departments inside the same company. The result is higher costs, stalled innovation, and packaging that is recyclable on paper but ends up in landfill.
No company can see the whole landscape, and every company is working it out alone.
A compass, not a rulebook.
The Packaging Standards Compass is a three-part working series running from October 2026 to January 2027: brands first, then the companies that set packaging requirements, then everyone together. We will convene the companies that set packaging requirements, consumer brands, and the packaging value chain to build a shared understanding of the standards landscape, so decision-makers can work out what to do about it. It is an exploration: our hope is that by the end of the third session there is a practical path forward for solving this challenge.
A compass tells you where you are and which way is north. It does not tell you where to go. Every decision stays where it belongs: with each individual company.
Orient
Frame the landscape: how customer packaging requirements and state EPR frameworks have evolved, and where they visibly intersect.
Listen
Facilitated sessions where participants describe their own experience: the guidance they receive, where friction occurs, and what clarity would help.
Synthesize
Distill recurring patterns, terminology gaps, and areas where clarity could reduce friction. No company is named or ranked.
Decide
Close with a short paper on possible routes forward and a proposed design for phase two. The program continues only if participants find it valuable.
September 2026 to January 2027.
Kickoff at SEE Change 2026
In PersonLaunch at the Packaging Matters track. Framing of the problem, introduction of the Compass, invitation to brands and the companies that set their packaging requirements into the journey.
Launch session: Thursday, September 17 · 10:15–11:05am ET
Session 1 — Brands: Understanding the Issue
VirtualBrands and their supply chain partners describe the packaging requirements they receive from their customers, where those requirements collide with state EPR rules, and what the collision costs them.
Wednesday, October 28 · 1:00–2:00pm ET
Session 2 — Customer Requirements and Limitations
VirtualWhat the requirements are for, how they are set and enforced, and where their own constraints lie. The focus is on the companies that set them; the session is open to everyone.
Friday, November 20 · 1:00–2:00pm ET
Session 3 — Convergence: Paths Forward
VirtualEveryone together: where requirements and EPR already align, where shared terminology would help, and what industry could do about the gaps.
Friday, January 8, 2027 · 1:00–2:00pm ET
Synthesis & Decision
A short paper setting out possible routes forward, published to participants, plus a proposed design for a phase-two program if there is appetite.
How we will work.
Sessions are professionally facilitated and held under the Chatham House Rule. Participants speak only to their own practices and experiences. Nobody shares or solicits competitively sensitive information: pricing, costs, supplier terms, or forward commercial plans. The initiative sets no standards and takes no policy positions. Session protocols are reviewed against antitrust guidance. Outputs describe patterns and themes and are never attributed to a company.
This Is
A neutral, facilitated learning journey that builds shared understanding and surfaces where voluntary clarity is possible.
This Is Not
A standards body, a certification scheme, a lobbying effort, a benchmarking exercise, or a forum for collective decisions of any kind.
Convened by people who convene for a living.
The Circular Leadership Network (Circle)
A track record of convening oppositional stakeholders, from the Global Plastics Treaty Dialogues to EPR Readiness Circles.
Sustainable Packaging Coalition
Anticipated PartnerThe industry’s broadest membership community across the packaging value chain.
Atlantic Packaging
Founding PartnerCatalytic support and supply chain expertise, and host of the launch through the Packaging Matters track at SEE Change.
The ask is one honest conversation.
For these three sessions there are no fees and no commitments. The hope is a path forward that solves the challenge; if the series proves its worth, it becomes a program designed by the people who took it.
Sign up for the sessions