FAQ
What Atlas Circular tracks, how it works, and what you get.
The basics
What is Atlas Circular?
Atlas Circular tracks circularity-aligned legislation across all 50 states and at the federal level — Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), right-to-repair, deposit-return, recycled-content, labeling, disposal bans, and related laws — in one place. It turns a firehose of legislative activity into the handful of bills, deadlines, and obligations that actually affect you.
Who is it for?
Producers and the teams responsible for staying compliant as EPR spreads — plus advocates, nonprofits, researchers, journalists, and students who need to see the landscape. The free tier is built for the latter; the Pro tier is built for regulatory, sustainability, and product teams who need every deadline and obligation.
What exactly does it track?
Bills and enacted laws touching the circular economy: EPR / producer-responsibility programs, right-to-repair, recycled-content mandates, deposit-return / bottle bills, labeling and compostability claims, disposal and packaging bans, and financial incentives. We also track federal preemption and related federal agency actions via the Federal Register.
Data & accuracy
Where does the data come from?
Legislative data is sourced from Open States (Plural Policy), and federal actions from the Federal Register. Every bill links back to its official primary source so you can verify the original text.
How does the classification work — and how accurate is it?
Every bill is screened against a fixed set of circularity criteria, then auto-classified for relevance, policy instrument, and the material streams it touches — each with a confidence score. Relevant bills have their compliance details (deadlines, covered products, producer obligations) extracted from the bill text, and a growing set is spot-reviewed by a human. Each bill shows whether its relevance call is auto-classified or reviewed. Classifications are automated and can contain errors — always verify against the primary source before relying on any result. See the full methodology →
How current is the data?
The corpus is refreshed on a regular ingestion cycle that pulls new and updated bills from Open States, with bulk backfills for historical coverage. Coverage is most complete from roughly 2017 onward and usable back to about 2009; older sessions are sparser.
Can I rely on this for legal compliance?
No. Atlas Circular is an intelligence and research tool, not legal advice. Deadlines and obligations are surfaced to help you find what matters faster — but you (and your counsel) are responsible for confirming the law that applies to you. See our Terms of Service.
Plans & billing
What is free, and what needs Pro?
Free includes the full Bill Explorer and map across all 50 states, state snapshots, the Federal Actions tracker, the headline Design Guide imperatives, a personalized feed, and a limited alerts filter. Pro adds every extracted obligation date, the full timeline and deadline dashboard, personal and shared watch lists, alerts across every instrument with custom filters, the complete Design Guide, and CSV export. Compare plans →
How much does Pro cost?
Pro is $400/month, or $3,600/year (billed annually — $300/mo, three months free). Founding members who join during early access lock in 50% off for life and get a 90-day free trial. Cancel anytime.
Is there a free trial?
Yes — Pro starts with a 90-day free trial, no charge until it ends, cancel anytime. New accounts also get a short self-serve trial on signup, and you can extend access by referring others.
How do I cancel or manage my plan?
From your account, open Manage plan to reach the billing portal, where you can update payment details or cancel. Cancellation stops future renewals; you keep Pro access through the end of the period you have paid for.
Features
What are watch lists and alerts?
Watch lists (Pro) let you and your team follow specific bills and get notified when their status or deadlines change. Alerts email you about new and changing legislation; free accounts get a limited filter, Pro gets alerts across every instrument with custom filters. You can unsubscribe from any email at any time.
What is the Design Guide?
The Design Guide synthesizes what enacted EPR and circularity law actually requires into design-for-compliance principles — so product and packaging teams can act on policy, not just read it. Free shows the headline imperatives; Pro unlocks the complete guide.
What is Portfolio Exposure?
Portfolio Exposure maps how legislation intersects with a company's materials and geographic footprint to estimate where compliance risk is concentrating. These are directional estimates intended to prioritize attention, not precise liability figures. Deeper, portfolio-specific exposure mapping is available as a bespoke engagement — see pricing →
Is there an API?
Yes — the circularity-legislation dataset (bills, statuses, deadlines, and classifications across all 50 states) is available via API, with a rate-limited free developer tier and usage-based paid plans. Request access from the pricing page.
Account & contact
Do I need an account?
You can browse the free Bill Explorer and map without one. A free account unlocks a personalized feed and alerts; a Pro subscription unlocks the full deadline dashboard, watch lists, and export. Sign-in is by email or Google.
Who builds Atlas Circular?
It's developed by Kenny Arnold Design, made possible by Open States. More about the project →
How do I get in touch?
Email kenny@superfun.studio with questions, corrections to a classification, or partnership inquiries.