Here are answers to the most frequently asked questions about the industry vote.

Q: How does referendum for the paper checkoff work?

A: The paper checkoff (Paper and Packaging Board (P+PB)) was established January 21, 2014. Our Order requires the industry to hold a “continuance referendum” no later than every seven years to vote on whether or not to continue the program. Company designees will receive a mailed paper ballot and an electronic ballot via email with a simple yes or no question about continuing the program. 

Q: How long in between referendums? In other words, when is the next referendum?   

A:  Our Order stipulates no more than seven years between referendums. However, a referendum can be called sooner than seven years at the direction of the P+PB Board of Directors, the Secretary of Agriculture or at the request of at least 10% of paying companies.

Q: Who is eligible to vote?

A: Manufacturers and importers who manufactured/imported 100,000 tons of paper and paper-based packaging or more during 2024 and are current in their payment. See the Order for more information.

Q: When is the voting period?

A: July 14 through July 25, 2025. 

Q: Who runs the referendum and when will the results of the vote be available?

A: The USDA runs, tallies and reports the results. Results are anticipated by the end of July. For the program to continue, a simple majority of those voting must vote yes and also represent a majority of the voting volume of paper and paper-based packaging. Learn more.

Q: Will the assessment rate increase?

A: The vote to continue the program will not change the assessment rate. If the Board of Directors determines that a future rate increase is needed to meet the objectives of the campaign, then USDA requires a formal comment period including an announcement in the Federal Register and a set period of time for the industry to provide feedback/comment. 

Q: What has the campaign accomplished since the last referendum in 2023?

A: Our 2024 Campaign Impact Report recaps progress against key reputation measures along with measures of consumer preference. The campaign’s change in 2021 to focus on the industry’s unrivaled sustainability story is resonating with consumers, customers and the industry – setting the paper industry apart from other competing materials and creating a more favorable marketplace for paper and packaging manufacturers and downstream companies. Since advertising hit the market in July 2015, our main reputation and favorability metrics have measurably increased. 

Q: What is the business case for continuing with the Paper and Packaging Board program?

A: The program addresses multiple, related business objectives that speak to a range of issues facing the paper and packaging industry that the board believes an ongoing consumer conversation can support.

• Communicate the health and sustainability of forests used to make forest products like paper and packaging
• Showcase paper innovations and plastic substitution
• Promote more residential recycling
• Leverage paper’s unique advantages over digital learning and creating 
• Promote sustainable features that customers want in their consumer product that shipping packaging and paper provides
• Buffer against attacks and threats to the industry

Q: What are the benefits of continuing the campaign?

A: In addition to taking on multiple business objectives the campaign has:

• Created a unified voice in the marketplace. Sharing the industry story of renewability, innovation and recycling leadership with consumers and customers benefits ALL companies with markets in the U.S. 
• Achieved an almost 14:1 ROI to funders. Every dollar invested in the P+PB campaign returned $13.96 in profit to the industry based to an economic report by an independent third party, demonstrating that P+PB is clearly focused on its mission, the program is well worth the investment and the industry is better off because of it.
• Campaign advertising and other marketing tactics are overperforming their baselines even with less media investment which means that the campaign is reaching even more people than projected for the money being spent.   
• Generated robust consumer engagement. By the end of 2024, an overwhelming 91% of respondents who had seen the campaign expressed positive views on paper’s environmental role and the paper industry's stewardship of forests based on a survey taken after they read an article on our website. This marks a 7-point surge in positive sentiment since 2021 when we launched sustainability—clear evidence that our sustained education efforts are resonating and reshaping public perceptions of the paper industry. 
• Countering competitors’ multiple promotional campaigns. The petrochemicals business is booming and highly profitable, and plastics remain cheap and in demand, supported by their own national marketing campaigns. The P+PB campaign represents the industry fighting back with its own counter effort to present the facts and dispel the myths about its products which in turn has proven to increase demand.
• Strategic Spending, Not Reckless Cuts. Maintaining the campaign doesn’t mean business as usual. It means being smarter, which is what the P+PB is doing. We have over a decade of expertise in cost-effective marketing that gets measurable results. We are, in fact, doing more with less, but impressively, the results aren’t diminishing! Our media spend delivered 48% more total impressions and 46% more website traffic YoY, despite 16% reduction in spend.  Just like you, we’ve tightened up by cutting waste and reallocated budgets toward digital, performance-based channels and emphasized brand trust and purpose over flashy campaigns that are great for resumes but not always for results. 
• Met the Moment with the Right Message at the Right Time. There has never been a more important time to have a proactive voice in the marketplace, especially as concerns about climate change intensify and our competitors invest in multiple campaigns of their own. 
• Leveraged Deep Staff Knowledge. With no startup costs and a large learning curve behind us, P+PB is a well-oiled machine ready to meet the evolving needs and expectations of companies paying for the campaign, responding to market conditions and industry priorities just as we have for 11 years.  

Q: What is the campaign’s annual budget?

A: About $20M, depending on the total amount of assessments collected.

Q: Does the campaign generate enough money to be effective?

A: Yes, absolutely. Through our very strategic approach to identify and target those consumers who provide the most value to the industry, our dollars have had more impact and gone farther than if we had tried to talk to the broader aged 18+ consumer audience. We also work with a world-class media firm that has proprietary targeting tools to help us reach the right consumers as well as possessing significant buying clout as one of the largest media companies in the country.

Q: Have other checkoffs failed or been discontinued?

A: We are not aware of any successful checkoffs discontinuing their programs because they have solved their challenges. Successful checkoffs continue to leverage and build on their successes for the benefit of their industries. 

Have more questions? Need more information? Please contact Mary Anne Hansan, President of the Paper and Packaging Board at mahansan@paperandpackaging.org.