Date: December 10, 2025
Time: 1:00-2:30 EST
Location: Zoom (register below)
Presented by:
Across the Great Lakes region, conversations around Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) are moving beyond the basics toward detailed program design and implementation. This advanced session is tailored for policymakers, regulators, and stakeholders with prior exposure to EPR who are seeking deeper insights into next steps for their states and provinces.
Building on recent legislative progress in the U.S. and Canada, panelists examined emerging best practices and critical decision points in program development. Topics will include governance models, oversight structures, eco-modulated fee schedules, data and reporting systems, and the evolving roles of municipalities and producer responsibility organizations (PROs). The session explored harmonization opportunities across jurisdictions, drawing lessons from Ontario’s oversight framework and U.S. packaging EPR laws already in motion.
Attendees will gain practical strategies for addressing challenges such as producer registration, performance standards, compliance auditing, and ensuring equity in access and service.
Mary Cummins |Registrar, Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA)
In 2016, the Government of Ontario created the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA), the regulator mandated to enforce the province’s circular economy laws. RPRA’s Registrar, Mary Cummins, leads RPRA’s compliance and enforcement function, including overseeing inspections, prosecutions, compliance orders, administrative penalties, and offence provisions under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act and associated regulations, including the Blue Box Regulation. She is also accountable for the Registry IT system which is used to receive and store information related to resource recovery and waste reduction activities, which includes verification of recovery data and public reporting. Her team also is responsible for supporting regulated entities with their reporting requirements for the Hazardous Waste Program and Excess Soil Registry Program.
Ally Walker | Program Officer, Circular Economy
Ally Walker is the Program Officer of Circular Economy at the Council of the Great Lakes Region, where she leads several key projects under the Circular Great Lakes initiative, including the Great Lakes Plastic Cleanup, Boat Wrap Recycling Program, Dart Stormwater Grant, Return to Retail Takeback Program, and Legislative Outreach and Education project. Since joining CGLR in 2022, Ally has combined her background in sustainability policy, regional recycling systems, and stakeholder engagement to drive cross-sector solutions that advance a more circular economy. She holds a Master’s in Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh and is passionate about building lasting change through informed policymaking and collaboration.
Sarah Bonvallet | Operations Program Coordinator, Reverse Logistics Group
Sarah Bonvallet is an Operations Program Coordinator for Reverse Logistics Group (RLG), a global leader in extended producer responsibility (EPR) compliance solutions. She currently leads Minnesota’s pioneering boat wrap recycling initiative, Wrap Recycle Right. In this role, Sarah oversees the strategic design, implementation, and operational management of the state’s first EPR program targeting marine shrink wrap—a material historically overlooked in stewardship frameworks.
Mallory Anderson | Packaging EPR Coordinator, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
Mallory Anderson is the Packaging EPR Coordinator at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Mallory leads implementation of the new Packaging Waste and Cost Reduction Act, which requires producers to fund a statewide program that will result in all packaging being refillable, reusable, recyclable, and/or compostable by 2032. Prior to the agency, she has worked in solid waste and policy for Hennepin County, Minnesota. At the county she supported the business recycling program including the food waste requirements. She has a B.A. in environmental studies from UMN-Duluth and a M.S. in environmental management and policy from Lund University, Sweden.
Scott Cassel | CEO & Founder, Product Stewardship Institute
Scott Cassel has over 40 years of experience addressing waste management issues in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. In 2000, he founded the Product Stewardship Institute, a policy expert and consulting nonprofit that pioneered product stewardship in the United States and has helped enact 141 EPR laws across 20 product categories in 33 states — the bedrock of the circular economy. Prior to founding PSI, Scott served seven years as the director of waste policy and planning for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, where he developed and implemented solid and hazardous waste management policies and programs. As PSI’s CEO, he developed the widely acclaimed facilitation process that the organization uses for stakeholder engagement and consensus-building — a process that resulted in the nation’s first industry-run, government-mandated paint stewardship program. In 2022, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) appointed Scott to its Marine Debris Foundation board of directors, where he works on policy, infrastructure development, and innovative technologies to clean up and prevent pollution of our waterways and ocean.