A Year of Progress, Partnership, and Purpose Reflections from Circular Action Alliance
This blog post is written by Jeff Fielkow, Chief Executive Officer at Circular Action Alliance.
As the year comes to a close, I have been reflecting on the progress we have made at Circular Action Alliance and, most importantly, on the people who made it possible.
Building and operating programs under paper and packaging extended producer responsibility laws (EPR) moves forward through collective action. Producers, recyclers, local governments, state agencies, community partners, and many others each play a critical role in creating recycling systems that are effective, reliable, and built to serve communities over the long term.
In 2025, CAA reached important milestones that reflect both the scale of the work and the trust placed in us to lead producer responsibility programs across the country.
We launched our first operational program in Oregon and introduced RecycleOn. We secured program plan approval in Colorado and opened reimbursement for local governments and processors. In California, we built up our capabilities and advanced pre-program research and planning, putting us on track for program plan submittal in June 2026. We also held 11 consultations, with more than 2,000 participants to inform California’s program plan development. We expanded into Minnesota and Maryland and continued supporting efforts in Washington, reinforcing CAA’s role as a national PRO. We delivered 18 guidance documents, supported more than 33,000 producer cases, and onboarded 3,300 national accounts. Additionally we launched IT portals serving municipalities, producers, and suppliers across California, Colorado, Minnesota, and Oregon, improving access to reporting tools, data submission, and program information.
These outcomes reflect strong collaboration across the value chain and our focus on delivering practical, consistent compliance services that work for producers of all sizes while supporting strong recycling systems on the ground.
To our state partners, thank you for the trust you have placed in CAA and for the steady leadership required to build programs that work in practice, not just on paper.
To the more than 3,300 producers participating in our programs, thank you for engaging early, asking detailed questions, and helping shape systems that are workable across brands, materials, and markets.
To recyclers, MRFs, and service providers, thank you for your technical expertise, operational insight, and willingness to adapt as these programs take shape.
To municipalities and community partners, thank you for your partnership and for keeping residents, access, and service quality at the center of implementation.
To our trade association partners, thank you for serving as thoughtful sounding boards and for bringing forward critical perspectives from your members that help strengthen program design and execution.
To our boards of directors at the national, committee, and state levels, thank you for your duty of care, guidance, and steady oversight as we navigate complex policy and operational decisions.
And to the CAA team, thank you for the expertise you bring every day, for staying true to our mission, and for living our ACTIVE values through your work. You continue to show what is possible when we work together to solve hard problems and move from policy to operations.
We are still early in this work, but the progress is real and the foundation is strong.
As we look ahead, our focus remains clear. We will continue expanding our capabilities, supporting the entire recycling and recovery supply chain, strengthening data and reporting, and building programs that deliver results for communities, producers, and governments. The work ahead is highly complex and aspirational, but it is achievable when we stay focused and work together.
Thank you for the trust you place in Circular Action Alliance and for the collaboration that makes this work possible. We are proud to work alongside you, and we look forward to continuing this work together in 2026.
Jeffrey Fielkow
President and CEO
Circular Action Alliance