The Circular Action Alliance (CAA), the nonprofit producer responsibility organization (PRO) charged with implementing California's packaging extended producer responsibility (EPR) program under Senate Bill 54, says it is investing in Closed Loop Partners' Reuse Cities Initiative, a forthcoming effort under the New York investment firm's NextGen Consortium designed to implement and scale reuse systems for packaging in California.

Neither party has disclosed the size of the investment. But the structure of the deal is clear: CAA, as the state's chosen PRO, will use the initiative to test how reusable packaging performs in a real California community, gathering operational data on collection, cleaning and return logistics before committing to larger-scale infrastructure.

Through Reuse Cities, CAA says it will work with Closed Loop Partners to explore how driving reuse adoption can improve operational efficiency and make reusable packaging a more familiar and practical option within a California community. The PRO frames the collaboration as groundwork for larger reuse systems that align with California's broader goals under its EPR law to expand reuse and refill solutions.

The data question sits at the center of the arrangement. CAA says the insights generated through the initiative will inform strategic investments in California and in other states with similar requirements, giving the PRO and its partners a clearer picture of best practices for scaling reuse more broadly. The organization identifies this data as key to spotting opportunities to support producer compliance efforts and future program investments tied to reuse and refill objectives.

CAA explicitly rejects treating reuse as a universal fix.

"For CAA, this collaboration reflects the role we aim to play in the evolving EPR landscape: walking alongside producers, states and key interest holders to support thoughtful implementation, practical innovation and steady progress," the organization says. "We do not see reuse as a one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, we see it as one important pathway that requires testing, learning and collaboration to understand where it can deliver the greatest and most cost-efficient impact. By evaluating what works in practice, initiatives like Reuse Cities can help strengthen the knowledge base to successfully implement California's S.B. 54 requirements."

The PRO says its participation in Reuse Cities forms part of a broader strategy to accelerate the transition from single-use food service ware to reusables. CAA also is pursuing similar investment and collaborative opportunities in other controlled-environment areas, with a specific focus on business-to-business transport packaging and prefills. As that work advances, the organization says it will keep building the knowledge base and practical tools needed to support reuse adoption where it can be implemented effectively.

"By working with Closed Loop Partners and other collaborators, we are helping create a stronger foundation for reuse systems that can serve producers, communities and states today, while informing the pathway ahead," CAA says.

The distinction between announced pilots and built capacity matters here. Reuse Cities is a forthcoming initiative — no California community has been named, no throughput targets published, no start date set. What exists today is a capital commitment from the state's PRO and a stated intent to generate the operational evidence that S.B. 54 implementation will eventually demand.

The initiative also positions CAA for work beyond California. The PRO says data from the program will guide investments in other states with reuse requirements, effectively converting one state's pilot learnings into a playbook for producer compliance across multiple EPR jurisdictions.

What happens next depends on execution milestones: the selection of a host community for the California Reuse Cities pilot, the publication of baseline operational findings, and the degree to which those findings translate into producer-facing compliance pathways under S.B. 54's reuse and refill provisions. Those deliverables will determine whether this investment produces the scalable reuse infrastructure California's EPR law anticipates — or remains a research exercise.