PACKAGING EPR
Oregon fees have run since July 2025, Colorado dues fall due each January, and California requires a plan, membership or exemption to sell covered packaging from January 1, 2027. You are liable for the weights you report, and today those weights live with suppliers or in a spreadsheet. Instica is where you measure them once, attach the evidence, prepare each jurisdiction’s report figures, and check the fees.
WHY NOW
Seven US states have enacted packaging EPR. A report asks for the weight of each component by material category, and California also asks for a count of plastic components and a written methodology. California penalties run up to $50,000 per violation per day, and Oregon’s up to $25,000 per day.
Fees are charged on the weights you report. A weight that is too high costs you money. One that is too low is a liability.
Estimates are allowed, but the method has to be documented and corrected when better data exists.
They structure the data you give them. Instica also produces it: photographed, weighed and signed at the bench.
HOW INSTICA WORKS
Ten groups of capability, all in every plan. The full list is on the features page.
Who the producer is for each SKU and packaging level, in every jurisdiction you sell into.
SKUs, shared packaging specs, components, layers and attributes. Entered once, reused everywhere.
Measure it, collect it from suppliers, or estimate it with a documented method. Every figure shows which.
Weights become tonnage once they meet units shipped to each state, province and country.
Sealed figures for each jurisdiction, a regulator file where its format is verified, a methodology document, and a walkthrough for the portal.
Estimate before the invoice, check it when it arrives, and see what each SKU costs.
See which packaging helps and which costs you, then test a change before you commit to it.
Rules, rates and dates change. The platform watches for it.
The record behind every figure can be checked by someone who was not at your bench.
Several entities, several brands, several people, and the controls IT will ask about.
MEASUREMENT
One SKU at a time. Every element that leaves with the product is a component: the carton, the bottle, the closure, the label, the tape, the insert. Photograph what you are about to weigh. The photos stay attached to the record.
On the web, in the browser on your phone, or with a connected scale. Type the reading next to its photo, or let a connected scale fill the field. Laminates take grams per layer.
The person at the scale confirms every value. Automated checks compare the photo, the reading and the material, and flag outliers against sibling SKUs. Each flag is resolved or explained.
Instica suggests a category and you confirm it. Nothing is pre-selected. The same measurement maps to each jurisdiction’s own categories, so you do not weigh twice.
The record carries the time, the named confirmer, the photos and the readings. It is signed and append-only. A re-measurement supersedes it and both stay readable.
Scan a barcode to open the SKU, tear down in batches, and keep working offline. The queue replays when you reconnect. Units display in grams, kilograms, ounces or pounds.
| Component | Material | Grams |
|---|---|---|
| Folding carton | Paperboard, coated | 22.4 |
| Bottle | Glass, clear | 51.8 |
| Closure | Polypropylene (PP) | 3.1 |
| Paper insert | Paper, uncoated | 2.7 |
Signed and dated. Bound to the SKU. Photos, readings and checks attached. A later re-measurement supersedes this record.
DATA QUALITY
You will not measure everything on day one. Use the best data you have for each SKU, and see at a glance what is evidence and what is not. Replace the weakest figures first.
Measured
Weighed by a person at a scale, with photos, a time and a named confirmer. The strongest tier, and the only one that counts toward your record allowance.
Supplier
Supplied by the maker of the component, from a spec sheet or declaration. A proposal until you confirm it.
Estimated
Derived from measured siblings or a sampling plan. The method is written into the methodology document.
Declared
Entered by you without evidence behind it. Allowed, labelled as such, and the first thing to replace when you can.
A sampling plan per spec family gives the required sample size and a variance check, and triggers a re-measure when the data drifts. Estimates from measured siblings carry their method into the methodology document.
Each record is checked for photo against reading against material, outliers against sibling SKUs and the component’s history, and missing evidence. A flag has to be resolved or explained before the reporting period locks.
Send a link or upload a spec-sheet PDF. Instica extracts proposed weights and declarations, tracks their expiry, and waits for you to confirm.
THE REPORT AND THE METHOD
Pull units sold by region from your sales channels with CSV presets, including the packaging you ship parcels in. Weights meet units, and each jurisdiction’s report is prepared from them. A file is built only where its format has been checked against the official template; elsewhere the sealed figures are what you enter in the portal. California’s includes plastic component counts. Oregon’s uses its 60 material categories.
A methodology document is generated from your evidence: sources, data-quality tiers, sampling, allocation and assumptions. It covers California’s written methodology requirement and every other rule that says to document your method.
| Component | Material category | Grams | Plastic count | Data tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Folding carton | Paperboard, coated | 22.4 | – | Measured |
| Bottle | Glass, clear | 51.8 | – | Measured |
| Closure | Polypropylene (PP) | 3.1 | 1 | Measured |
| Pipette | Polypropylene (PP) | 1.9 | 1 | Supplier |
| Paper insert | Paper, uncoated | 2.7 | – | Measured |
| Total | 81.9 | 2 | ||
FEES
Instica works from published schedules only, and tells you when a rate is pending. It does not tell you what an invoice must be. It shows how your reported data produces it.
The published fee schedules Instica has on file, with eco-modulation where a schedule has it, in USD, CAD, EUR and GBP. Where no schedule is on file or a rate is not published, the tool says pending.
Compare an invoice with your reported data and see where they differ before you pay it.
See which products carry the most packaging cost, and what each unit costs to ship in that packaging.
A next-year forecast, and an accrual export your accountant can post.
Change a material or a weight and see the fee and target impact before you change the packaging.
Private scheme rates are not published. Enter them from your contract or invoice. They are labelled customer-supplied.
EVIDENCE
A confirmed record says that a named person confirmed a stated weight at a stated time, with these photos attached. That is the claim a person at your bench can actually make, and the one that holds up when it is questioned.
Photos, readings, signatures, flags and resolutions for a record or a whole report, in one file.
The /verify page checks a signature in the browser. Whoever receives your ZIP does not need an Instica account.
Give an auditor or consultant chosen entities until a date you set, read only or able to edit figures. They use no seat and cannot sign or change billing.
Every change to every record and report, with who and when, in a hash chain you can check and export as CSV. Records are versioned, never overwritten.
Audit-ready and defensible are the goal. No software can promise a regulator will accept a submission.
COVERAGE
All seven states with enacted packaging EPR: California, Oregon, Colorado, Washington, Minnesota, Maryland and Maine. States with a bill in session are on a watchlist and switch on when a law is enacted.
All 13 provinces and territories. Eight programs get a worksheet of your figures by their categories, and the rest show their status.
All 27 member states, plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, with each country’s categories and fees where published, sealed figures for its declaration, and a registration data pack for the provider you appoint.
Packaging EPR, including the Report Packaging Data file, and the Plastic Packaging Tax recycled-content check.
Stated, with the reason: there is no packaging EPR obligation today.
Revenue floors differ by state: $1M California sales for California, $5M global for Oregon, Washington and Colorado, and $2M for Minnesota, Maryland and Maine. The obligation checker applies them to your numbers.
WHO IT IS FOR
Direct-to-consumer, Amazon, Etsy and wholesale brands, from about $1M to $50M in revenue, and the finance teams and consultants who serve them.
You have a spreadsheet, a pile of supplier PDFs and a deadline. Start free, measure your best sellers first, and see what the report looks like before you pay anything.
Several entities, brands and jurisdictions. Fee lines with their dated source, accrual journals, two-person approval, a named signer, SSO on Scale, and an audit log with a hash chain behind each report.
Run each client as an entity, switch between them with search, and download usage by client for re-billing. When a client invites you in, you use none of their seats.
DEADLINES
Instica keeps a calendar per entity and jurisdiction, with reminders at 90, 30 and 7 days, and a change feed for when dates move.
Every paid plan includes the full workflow. Plans differ by volume, seats and entities; Scale adds SSO and SCIM. Self-serve, with a card.
WHAT INSTICA DOES NOT DO
You or your signer submit through the regulator’s or program’s portal. Instica prepares the file, walks you through the portal step by step, and keeps your receipt. It never holds your portal credentials.
It does not collect fees, run a program or stand in for your program membership. For the EU and UK it prepares the data pack for whichever authorised representative, licence provider or scheme you appoint. It does not act as one or broker one.
The obligation checker shows the rule and its citation. When the answer is unclear it says needs counsel. Your program or the state decides whether a submission is accepted.
You are liable for your weights. Instica gives you the evidence and the written method behind them. Accuracy still depends on the weighing.
FREQUENTLY ASKED
No. You or your signer submit it. Instica prepares the figures in the regulator’s own file format where Instica has verified it against the official template, and otherwise as sealed figures you enter in the portal, generates the methodology document, walks you through the portal step by step and keeps the receipt. Instica is not a producer responsibility organization.
Estimates are allowed, as long as the method is documented and corrected when better data exists. You remain liable for the weights you report. A measured weight with photos, a timestamp and a named confirmer is the stronger position if anyone asks how you got a number. Instica supports both, and labels each figure measured, supplier, estimated or declared.
California asks for weight per covered-material category at component level, a count of plastic components, and a written methodology under section 18980.5(d). Instica records all three, and generates the methodology from your evidence.
One confirmed weight for one packaging component. Supplier, estimated and declared figures do not count toward your record allowance. See the pricing page for plan limits.
No. Type the reading next to its photo. A connected scale over Bluetooth, USB or serial works from Chrome, and so does one in keyboard mode that types into the field. Safari on iPhone cannot connect to a scale, so use keyboard mode there or type the reading.
Your choice, set by organization and overridable per person. AI can suggest a material category and read a scale display. A person always confirms. With AI assist off, manual entry with evidence and rule-based checks is complete.
It checks your revenue, tonnage, exemptions and producer role against each jurisdiction and returns owe, exempt, flat-fee tier or needs counsel, with the citation. A public version is free and needs no account. Your counsel confirms what applies to you.
There is a permanent Free plan, and paid plans start with Starter. Every paid plan includes the full workflow through signed reports. Plans differ by volume, seats and entities, and Scale adds SSO, SCIM provisioning and priority support. See the pricing page for the numbers.
The free workspace takes 10 measured records and one seat. Enough to see a record, a report preview and a fee estimate with your own products.
