What SPDC is, and why we point people at it
The Sustainable Packaging Data Council publishes a free US EPR data-requirements template covering California, Colorado and Oregon — backed by Specright, Lorax EPI, Sonoco, Tyson and Costco. It is good. Its real contribution is that it tells you which fields to fill: it turns “what do the states even want from us?” into a concrete column list your packaging, sales, and finance people can divide up. That alone ends the blank-page phase of an EPR program, and it costs nothing.
Start there. It is a practical way to organize the first pass before deciding whether the portfolio needs a deeper evidence layer.
Template scope and backer list: SPDC’s public materials — retrieved 2026-09-04. We are independent of SPDC and its backers; if we have described the template inaccurately, tell us and we will fix it.
When the template alone is enough
For a focused portfolio, the template plus a disciplined evidence folder may be all the structure you need. That is most likely when these conditions hold:
- A small, stable packaging catalogue — few configurations, redesigns are rare, and last year’s answers mostly survive to this year.
- Weights you already hold documents for — supplier specs or scale records exist in a folder someone can actually find, and nobody has to guess a number to finish a row.
- Simple attribution — one obligated entity, no private-label or associated-producer questions, and state-level sales splits your ERP can produce without heroics.
- One accountable owner — a person who fills it, keeps it, and can explain any cell in it a year later.
If every reported number can be reproduced from that setup, keep it simple and use it.
Where a source-linked workpaper adds leverage
A template organizes answers. A workpaper connects those answers to their inputs and calculations. That added layer pays off in four specific places:
- A source document behind every weight. The template gives you a cell for “grams”; it does not remember which spec sheet, scale record, or supplier declaration produced the number — or flag that two of them disagree.
- Component-level BOM lineage. Fee math runs on components, not SKU totals. When a carton, insert, film, or label changes mid-year, a flat sheet has no way to show which configurations, in which months, carried which components. Our component-level data guide covers what that structure looks like.
- State sales allocation. Obligation follows where covered material was supplied. Units by state, year, and channel is a data pipeline with its own sources — not a column you fill once.
- Correction-ready versioning. A sealed version and linked correction chain preserve what changed, why it changed, and which source supports the replacement value.
CAA validation makes traceability useful
Circular Action Alliance’s Reporting Policy V2 creates defined validation, Correction, and producer-requested Adjustment workflows. A source-linked record lets the engagement lead answer those workflows from the workpaper instead of reconstructing old spreadsheets:
| Policy workflow | Workpaper response |
|---|---|
| Producer-requested Adjustments are generally limited to one request for each Producer Report and Report Year, with all needed changes combined (§3.12). | Keep a complete proposed-change set, the reason for every change, and the source used for each replacement value. |
| CAA-requested Corrections use a 30-day response window and a separate 60-day correction-form timeline (§3.11). | Map every reported value to its evidence so the team can retrieve support promptly and respond without rebuilding the model. |
| Adjustment documentation may be requested within a 30-calendar-day window, and CAA may require an independent third-party review at the participant’s expense (§3.12). | Preserve source files, methodology, calculation lineage, and engagement-lead QA in one handoff-ready record. |
Quoted from the CAA Reporting Policy, Version 2.0 (June 2026), published by Circular Action Alliance — rechecked 2026-09-04.
Use the lightest system that stays reproducible
Use the template either way. If a completed template and evidence folder reproduce every number, the job is done. PackClose is for the next level of complexity: a source document behind every weight, component-level lineage, state sales allocation with provenance, and a sealed, correction-chained record that makes validation responses and annual handoffs faster.
Not sure which side of the line you are on? The 2026 status guide maps where producers stand, and the Status & Exposure Scanner runs in your browser — nothing uploads.