Also called: Extended Producer Responsibility Analyst, Packaging Compliance Specialist
Tracks every box, bottle and wrapper a company sells in states with new recycling laws that make brands pay for their packaging waste.
You pull data on 4,000 products and figure out how many tons of plastic, paper and glass were shipped into Oregon and Colorado last year. You check which materials are recyclable under each state's rules, file reports and estimate the fees. Then you nudge the packaging team toward cheaper, greener designs.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in environmental science, supply chain, packaging or business.
Ways in: 4-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Environmental Science, Packaging Science, Supply Chain Management, Business.
Growing much faster than average (about 12% over 10 years). A brand-new job: packaging EPR laws passed in Maine, Oregon, Colorado, California and others since 2021.
Medium risk for 10 years. Software calculates tons and fees from product data; reading brand-new laws and changing package designs stays human.
Classes: Environmental science, Statistics, Chemistry.
Official data: O*NET occupation 13-1041.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.