One Spreadsheet In, Every State Report Out: How Adams Group Hit a Short-Timeline, Multi-State EPR Deadline Without Losing Confidence in the Numbers

A short deadline is one problem. A short deadline across multiple states, each with its own rules, is a different problem entirely — it's not just less time, it's less time multiplied by more ways to get it wrong. That was the position Adams Group, a fifth-generation, family-owned food and ingredients company, found itself in heading into a multi-state EPR filing.

The company is both a B2B supplier of grains, seeds, and specialty oils for food, personal care, and infant nutrition brands, as well as a retail brand under Marianne’s, with products in the avocado oil and beef tallow categories. This meant its packaging data didn’t live in one tidy place to begin with. Here's how Adams Group turned a scramble across teams and spreadsheets into a single input and a full set of state reports, on time.

The Challenge: Right Answer, Not Just a Fast One

Adams Group needed to gather and report EPR data across multiple states, each with different requirements, on a short timeline. That meant pulling data across multiple teams and hours of analysis — and even after all that work, no real confidence the submissions were accurate.

"EPR requirements were taking up quite a lot of man-hours internally, including data collection across multiple teams, analysis, and submission preparation," said L. Greiner at Adams Group. "We also felt like we lacked the expertise to understand the different states' requirements and feel confident that our data submissions were accurate."

That second part is the harder problem to solve with hours alone. A team can always work longer; it's much harder to work a state's requirements correctly on the first attempt without having seen them before. And the cost of getting it wrong wasn't abstract: "There were potentially significant fees for misreporting or failing to report at all." 

Before bringing in rePurpose, Adams Group was managing all of this the way most lean teams do it — by hand. "We were just using Excel and other internal resources before finding rePurpose," Greiner said.

The Search for a Partner: More Than One Requirement, One Answer

Adams Group wasn't only solving for state EPR reporting. California's Individual Source Reduction requirement sat alongside it, and the company needed a partner who could handle both without treating them as two separate engagements.

"rePurpose was the obvious choice for us because they could help with state EPR reporting and CA's Individual Source Reduction," Greiner said. Beyond the compliance coverage itself, it was the supporting tools that made the decision easy: "They provide not only reporting assistance but also tailored guidance, webinar resources, and the packaging modeling tool was also a big draw."

Implementation: One Document In, Every State Out

Once the engagement started, the process Adams Group had been dreading — reconciling multiple states' worth of requirements against internal data — became rePurpose's problem to run, not theirs. 

"Implementation went very smoothly. The team was very responsive and great to work with, especially on such a short turnaround," Greiner said. The mechanics of it were simple by design: "We appreciated how we only needed to fill out one Excel document with all of our information, and rePurpose took care of generating the different state reports. It really alleviated a lot of the stress off of our team."

One input. Every state-specific report generated from it. The short timeline that had been the whole source of pressure going in stopped being the constraint it looked like at the start.

The Difference: From Static Spreadsheets to a Working Dashboard

Asked to compare before and after, Greiner didn't describe a faster version of the old process. She described a different way of seeing the data entirely.

"While before we were working in static Excel documents, now we can use the rePurpose dashboard to see our different year-over-year reports, fee projections, and identify which packaging components are good targets for reduction goals — and even use rePurpose’s dynamic data to help our brand team on Marianne’s assess different potential packaging options to anticipate compliance and fee issues," Greiner said. "This format is much more dynamic, uses the most up-to-date information from the rePurpose team, and really allows for more in-depth analysis."

The Impact: Time, Stress, and a Plan for What's Next

The most immediate win was hitting the deadline. The bigger one was what came with it. "Working with rePurpose saved us not only on time but also stress, taking out the guesswork of how we might comply," Greiner said. "The level of accuracy they provided also allows us to better plan and budget for future EPR fees, something we were lacking beforehand."

That forward-looking piece matters as much as the filing itself. Regulations don't hold still, and a team that got this year's numbers right still needs to know what's coming next. "Their ongoing compliance updates also help us keep better track of evolving compliance expectations — a great resource in an ever-changing regulatory landscape." 

Asked for an overall take on the partnership, Greiner was direct:

"Working with rePurpose truly feels like having a partner you can depend on. They make the reporting process so seamless, help us understand extremely complex compliance expectations, and help alleviate a lot of the stress with making sure we are providing accurate EPR data."

Key Takeaways for Multi-State, Multi-Requirement Reporters

Adams Group's experience holds a few lessons for any team facing overlapping compliance obligations on a tight clock:

A short timeline is a data problem before it's a deadline problem. The pressure Adams Group felt wasn't really about the calendar — it was about pulling accurate data from multiple teams fast enough to trust it. Solve the data-consolidation problem and the deadline stops being the hard part.

One input can replace many outputs. Adams Group didn't need a different process for every state. A single Excel submission, handled by a partner who knows what each state requires, did the same job as building separate submissions from scratch.

Overlapping requirements deserve one partner, not two. Handling state EPR reporting and California's Individual Source Reduction through the same relationship meant nothing fell into the gap between two vendors' scopes.

A static spreadsheet only tells you where you've been. A dashboard that projects fees and models packaging changes tells you where you're headed — and that's what turns a compliance obligation into planning you can actually budget around.

Facing a multi-state EPR deadline with more requirements than time? Learn more about rePurpose's EPR solutions or talk to a Compliance Specialist. No cost. No obligation.

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