Overview

Many brands are still struggling with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) compliance, thinking they can handle it alone. Kristie Cerutti, VP of Strategic Partnerships & Impact at Ancient Nutrition, was once in that exact same position.

“We thought the same thing, and the reality is that EPR compliance is more complex than it looks from the outside. Deadlines don’t wait for you to get organized. Dealing with it later just means catching up under pressure – and potentially facing retroactive fees or non-compliance issues. Getting a specialist involved earlier is almost always cheaper than cleaning up later.”

As EPR laws rapidly expand across the U.S., producers face increasing regulatory complexity, financial exposure, and operational burden. Ancient Nutrition, operating across all 50 states, needed a scalable, reliable way to stay compliant, without diverting internal resources or taking on unnecessary risk.

With rePurpose, Ancient Nutrition moved from fragmented processes to consistent, scalable results.

The Challenge: A Growing Compliance Burden

When EPR legislation began passing in key markets like California, Colorado, and Oregon, the team quickly realized achieving compliance would get more complicated: 

• Nationwide exposure: Compliance complexity would only increase as more EPR regulations finalize.
• High packaging volume: Across supplements, shipping, and marketing materials, their footprint and liability was significant.
• Evolving regulations: Requirements vary by state and are continuously changing.

And most importantly,

• Internal limitations: Managing compliance in-house would require:
  
  • Hiring a dedicated FTE or reallocating core team members
  • Tracking registrations, deadlines, and fee calculations across multiple jurisdictions, which would pull team members away from their core roles
  • Monitoring ongoing regulatory updates

Early exploration of consultants revealed another issue: high ongoing costs with no scalable long-term solution.

“The costs and ongoing nature of compliance made [hiring a consultant] feel unsustainable.”

The Search: Finding a Purpose-Built Solution

The team began evaluating options through industry conversations and independent research. One theme became clear:

They didn’t just need sustainability guidance. They needed specialized EPR expertise.

That’s where rePurpose stood out to Kristie:

“rePurpose is purpose-built for EPR — as a core focus.”

Why rePurpose

For Ancient Nutrition, the decision wasn’t just about choosing a vendor. It was about building a scalable foundation for a permanent, complex operational challenge.

1. Future-Proof EPR

EPR isn’t a “one-and-done” task; it’s a moving target of shifting state and international regulations. rePurpose provides a solution specifically designed to meet the evolving EPR compliance requirements, from data collection to final reporting submission.

2. Platform + Expert Support

Having a platform alone may check the boxes for reporting, but many brands are still “figuring it out” when it comes to navigating real-world regulatory shifts and building a strategic EPR roadmap. As Kristie noted,

“the combination of the platform and the expert support meant we weren’t just getting software to figure out on our own.”

3. Cost-Effective Solution

“The cost model made sense compared to what we’d spend on headcount or ongoing consultant retainers.”

After weighing the costs of hiring a full-time specialist versus retaining long-term consultants, Kristie’s due diligence led her to rePurpose. It was the only option that offered the scalable, predictable cost structure Ancient Nutrition needed.

The Impact: Time, Cost, and Risk Reduction

Time Savings

Managing EPR internally would have required substantial ongoing effort:

• Tracking deadlines across multiple states
• Calculating fees accurately
• Managing registrations and reporting
• Staying current with regulatory updates

“It’s impossible to estimate how much time this would have taken. It is a lot.”

Cost Savings

“When you factor in the cost of:

• A dedicated FTE (i.e. full-time compliance hire)
• A long-term consultant relationship
• The risk of non-compliance fees if we’d gotten something wrong

We believe rePurpose has saved us quite a bit of money.”

The Biggest Win: Peace of Mind

The most valuable outcome wasn’t just efficiency. It was certainty.

EPR compliance isn’t just a one-time project. It’s rapidly evolving and easy to de-prioritize internally. With proactive monitoring and clear guidance, compliance no longer sits on a to-do list. It’s managed continuously.

“The biggest relief is just knowing it’s handled. rePurpose removed what felt like a really murky, complicated obligation and made it manageable and clear.”

Key Takeaways for Brands

• Don’t delay. EPR compliance is not optional and certainly not simple. There will be a steeper cost and burden to backtracking later on.
• Internal management is resource-intensive and risky. There’s an alternative to scaling headcount for scaling EPR. Research your options.
• Specialized solutions reduce cost, complexity, and exposure. As EPR expands to more states, choosing a scalable system that can keep up gives you the confidence and certainty to navigate the process.
• It takes a team. The best EPR solutions aren’t just platforms – they’re partnerships. With technology + dedicated expert support, you get both efficiency and guidance, without the burden of navigating compliance alone.

The Bottom Line

For brands operating at scale, EPR compliance quickly becomes a high-stakes operational challenge. By partnering with rePurpose, Ancient Nutrition transformed compliance from a fragmented, high-risk burden into a streamlined, managed system – freeing their team to focus on what matters most.