In June of 2021, Maine became the first U.S. state to pass a stewardship program for packaging, known as the extended producer responsibility (EPR) law for packaging and printed paper (PPP), with a goal to reduce volume and toxicity and increase the recycling of packaging material. Since Maine’s enactment, three other states—Oregon, Colorado, and California— have followed suit, and momentum is building for policy action in additional states. While EPR for products like electronics and paint is not new to U.S. state legislators, the passage of EPR for PPP programs marks an important next chapter in U.S. recycling. EPR for PPP is the primary way packaging (and often paper) is managed in countries worldwide. Previous research has already documented the high recycling rates achieved by EPR for PPP programs worldwide and the low recycling rates in U.S. states.1 2 This report further validates that EPR successfully increases recycling rates for PPP and demonstrates the projected substantial impacts of EPR policy in a sample of U.S. states. Most previous studies on the effects of EPR focus on programs in Canada and the European Union (EU). The Recycling Partnership expanded that scope by analyzing seven programs—British Columbia, Belgium, Spain, South Korea, The Netherlands, Quebec, and Portugal—representing a mixture of under and widely discussed programs of varying sizes, geographies, and policy differences. Not all EPR for PPP programs are created equal, and many important policy, geographic, and demographic factors differentiate EPR programs from one another. Regardless of these differences, EPR for PPP programs in jurisdictions around the world have demonstrated strong, sustained growth in recycling rates, proving that EPR has its desired effect.