Retailer Packaging and Sustainability Guidelines for EPR Compliance
Posted By on May 14th 2025
Many brands in our EcoAlly community have embraced sustainability and eco-friendly packaging, guided by their internal values and personal commitment.
At the same time, an increasing number of brands — regardless of whether sustainability is a core focus — are now navigating evolving requirements around extended producer responsibility (EPR) and packaging regulations imposed by municipalities, states, countries, and retail partners.
We’re seeing more of the nation’s largest retailers consider sustainability in their business practices and how they work with, select, and incentivize brands whose products they stock and sell.
However, their strategies need to be revised in many ways. First, they need to be more aggressive and ambitious. Second, because these retailers haven’t collaborated to form cohesive, shared sustainability and packaging guidelines for their brands, the foundation they are building leads to confusion and frustration for their brands, which would prefer to package and sell through all of their retailers in consistent ways.
Almost every major retailer has a comprehensive written sustainability plan. Many of these plans include targets for reducing packaging waste in their private-label brands. Some also set targets or at least guidance for the brands they carry.
These are five of the biggest trends we found across the board for retailers’ packaging and sustainability requirements.
Table of Contents
- Preference for Vendors That Prioritize Sustainability and Social Responsibility
- Reducing and Offsetting Carbon Emissions
- Shifting Toward Specific Types of Packaging Materials
- Working to Cut Down On Food Waste
- Designing a More Circular Economy
- Guide to Retailer Packaging and Sustainability Requirements
- We’re here to help your business become EPR-compliant
Source: Unsplash
Preference for Vendors That Prioritize Sustainability and Social Responsibility
Each major retailer we looked into expressed a desire to work with partners actively pursuing social and environmental good.
Working with conscious vendors helps these retailers to:
- Achieve their sustainability milestones
- Become known as an eco-minded brand
- Provide customers with sustainable options
- Avoid penalties or fees due to wasteful practices
- Remain competitive in the marketplace
Some of the significant areas that retailers evaluate when looking at vendors include:
- Planet-conscious sourcing of materials like paper and palm oil
- Transparent supply chains free from forced labor or other unethical practices
- Thoughtful packaging that eliminated unnecessary waste
- Willingness to comply with the retailer’s sustainability guidelines
As retailers’ sustainability targets draw nearer, we expect to see even more preference given to vendors that work to care for the environment.
Source: Unsplash
Reducing and Offsetting Carbon Emissions
Another nearly universal trend between retailers is a goal to reduce emissions.
Many of these businesses have set expanding targets over the next few years.
This is important and distinguishes from what states do with many packaging requirements, prioritizing plastic reduction and curbside recyclability over reduced carbon emissions.
As businesses seek to reduce emissions, retailers are starting to look hard at their Scope 3 emissions. For some companies, this means getting as much data as possible about the emissions generated by the brands whose products they are selling.
The more that brands can have their emissions readily quantified and easily accessible to retailers, the better positioned these large companies are to track their Scope 3 emissions (and the stronger partner you become to them).
Source: EcoEnclose
Shifting Toward Specific Types of Packaging Materials
Many retailers also outlined ways they are prioritizing specific packaging materials over others.
For many retailers, the focus is on packaging end-of-life. Walmart and Amazon, for example, have guidelines and incentives around packaging recyclability. Also, Amazon sellers incur fees if their packaging does not follow Frustration-Free Packaging guidelines.
Some retailers are prioritizing a reduction of virgin plastic wherever possible.
Some are asking for better source material for packaging, including recycled content or FSC-certified paper.
- Setting minimum post-consumer recycled content requirements
- Redesigning packaging to be readily recyclable
- Simplifying packaging to reduce excess waste
- Sourcing paper packaging from FSC-certified forests
- Eliminating PVC, polystyrene, or unnecessary plastic
- Including end-of-life instructions on packaging
In the coming years, retailers like Kroger, Walmart, and Target aim to make their private brand packaging reusable, recyclable, or compostable. However, retailers will also look for vendors working toward similar sustainable packaging goals.
Source: Unsplash
Working to Cut Down On Food Waste
While not directly related to packaging, food waste is still one of the major contributors to landfills. And it is also a leading source of greenhouse gas emissions. This is why many retailers have made goals to reduce the amount of food they waste at a retail level.
If you sell food products, you can help retailers achieve food waste goals by:
- Ensuring packaging is sturdy and well-sealed, so food isn’t lost in shipping
- Choosing the best package to extend your product’s life
- Eliminating wasted food in your operations
And as more bans on styrofoam or plastic in food packaging come into play, choosing sustainable packaging for your food products will help you be prepared for the future.
Source: EcoEnclose
Designing a More Circular Economy
We’re encouraged to see more engagement in the circular economy from retailers. Target, in particular, has set goals to increase access to and awareness of circular brands. They’ve also aimed to design all their owned brand products for a circular future by 2040.
A circular approach to packaging is one of the most sustainable methods available. This is because it helps close the loop, so functional materials get more than one chance at life. It also makes the best use of available resources and encourages people to consider the big picture of their consumption.
We hope more retailers and brands continue to dig into what a circular economy means and how they can implement it.
As a vendor, you can work toward circularity by considering the entire lifecycle of your product packaging and taking steps to keep it out of landfill.
Guide to Retailer Packaging and Sustainability Requirements
We've compiled sustainable packaging guidelines by national retailer and tips on how EcoEnclose can support you with primary packaging to meet retailers' requirements.
Guide to Retailer Packaging and Sustainability Requirements
We've compiled sustainable packaging guidelines by national retailer and tips on how EcoEnclose can support you with primary packaging to meet retailers' requirements.
We’re here to help your business become EPR-compliant
Navigating EPR, packaging compliance, and packaging legislation can feel complex. We’re committed to helping you understand and apply current information about sustainable packaging requirements and legislation to your business. Contact us at hello@ecoenclose.com to get started.
Compliance and Retailer Guides
Thin Film Recycling
Retailer Requirements
Designing for Recyclability
About EcoEnclose
EcoEnclose is the leading sustainable packaging company that provides eco-packaging solutions to the world’s most forward-thinking brands.
We develop diverse, sustainable packaging solutions that meet our rigorous research-based standards and customers’ goals. We drive innovative packaging materials to market and consistently improve the circularity of existing solutions.