Circular Action Alliance (CAA) announced the opening of a public comment period on a draft Certification Standard for Responsible Markets: For Recycling of Paper, Packaging, and Food Serviceware (REM Standard), a certification standard designed to support verification of REM requirements established under U.S. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws for paper, packaging and food serviceware.
The REM Standard is intended to provide a consistent framework for verifying how recyclable materials are managed downstream of collection and sorting while聽maintaining聽appropriate protections聽for confidential business information. As EPR laws are adopted across multiple states, the standard is designed to support greater alignment in how statutory requirements are implemented, rather than聽inconsistent聽state鈥慴y鈥憇tate approaches.
鈥淪tates are increasingly relying on聽responsible聽end聽market requirements as part of their EPR laws, and that reality demands credible, consistent tools to verify compliance,鈥� said Shane Buckingham,聽Chief of Staff, Circular Action Alliance. 鈥淭he REM Standard is about supporting those statutory requirements with a clear framework that works across jurisdictions聽while also improving transparency and confidence in recycling outcomes.鈥�
Recycling systems have grown more complex as materials move through global and domestic supply chains, and regulators, producers and other interest holders聽are often required to聽make decisions with limited or inconsistent information about downstream market practices. By defining clear expectations and common criteria, the REM Standard is designed to improve visibility into material outcomes and strengthen confidence across the recycling value chain.
The REM Standard is being developed through a structured standards development process in collaboration with SCS聽Standards and Assurance Systems, an ANSI-accredited standard development organization with a focus on sustainability certification programs.聽The process includes input from a Standard Development Committee聽representing聽regulators, environmental organizations, academic聽experts聽and industry organizations, as well as public聽comment聽and consideration of pilot聽audit聽results.
鈥淲ell鈥慸esigned standards play a critical role in bringing clarity, consistency and transparency to complex systems,鈥澛爏aid Victoria Norman, Executive Director, SCS Standards聽and聽Assurance Systems.聽鈥淭he REM Standard is being developed to provide a clear and credible framework that supports regulatory requirements while giving聽interest holders聽confidence in how recycling outcomes are defined, evaluated and verified.鈥�
The public comment period is open from May 5 through July 7, 2026. Interested parties are encouraged to review the draft REM Standard and聽submit聽feedback through the聽online聽public comment聽form. CAA expects to publish a high鈥憀evel summary of key themes received during the consultation period.聽To support participation, CAA will also host a public informational聽webinar聽on May 12, 2026, from 1:00鈥�2:00聽p.m.聽ET, introducing the draft standard, outlining key聽elements聽and explaining how to聽participate聽in the public comment process.