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North Dakota: sustainable packaging labelling
North Dakota does not currently appear to prescribe a general sustainability, resin-identification, deposit or disposal label for ordinary packaging. Its former Plastic Products Degradation and Labeling chapter was repealed in 2017. Federal claim standards and North Dakota’s general consumer-protection law still govern voluntary environmental representations.
Executive summary
North Dakota is a negative-finding jurisdiction for the general packaging-mark categories tracked by this report. The current Century Code review did not identify a statewide resin-identification code, beverage-deposit legend, compostability presentation rule, non-flushable-wipe warning or packaging producer-responsibility logo for ordinary consumer packaging.
North Dakota formerly maintained Century Code chapter 23-32, Plastic Products Degradation and Labeling. The official chapter heading now records that the chapter was repealed by Session Laws 2017, chapter 199, section 74. Older fifty-state coding charts that still list a North Dakota resin or degradable-plastics rule can therefore be out of date. The repeal is not a current on-pack requirement, and it is not permission to make unsubstantiated environmental claims.
Legal status at a glance
| Requirement | Status | Operational meaning |
|---|---|---|
| State resin-identification code | repealed | N.D.C.C. chapter 23-32 was repealed by S.L. 2017, chapter 199, section 74. A resin symbol on a national package is not, on that basis, a current North Dakota requirement. |
| Statewide beverage-deposit legend | none | North Dakota has no statewide container-deposit system requiring a refund-value statement on ordinary beverage packaging. |
| Packaging-specific compostability, wipe or sorting mark | none identified | No generally applicable state presentation rule in these categories was identified within this report’s scope. |
| Voluntary environmental representation | claim-dependent | The FTC Green Guides and North Dakota’s Unlawful Sales or Advertising Practices chapter remain relevant to representations made voluntarily. |
Former Plastic Products Degradation and Labeling chapter
Justia’s current compilation of Century Code Title 23 records chapter 23-32 as “[Repealed by S.L. 2017, ch. 199, § 74].” Session Laws 2017, chapter 199, was a broad environmental-quality recodification. A compliance team relying on an undated SPI-era or trade-association table can therefore reach the wrong conclusion for North Dakota.
The repeal does not forbid a resin-identification mark required by another jurisdiction. It means that the reviewed North Dakota chapter no longer supplies the legal basis for requiring that mark. National artwork should identify the actual external requirement and should separately test whether arrow imagery creates a broader recyclability impression under federal and state claim law.
How to interpret the negative finding
“None identified” is a scoped, date-specific conclusion. It does not state that every package or product sold in North Dakota is free from labelling law. Food, drugs, chemicals, pesticides, batteries and other specialised products may carry federal or state warnings and disposal information outside this report’s sustainable-packaging scope. Local collection programmes can also give operational instructions that are not statewide package mandates.
Voluntary environmental representations
A business that voluntarily labels a package recyclable, compostable, biodegradable, reusable or made with recycled content creates an affirmative representation. Under the Green Guides, the claim should correspond to the package or component actually described, material limitations should be clear and proximate, and the evidence should address real collection and processing conditions rather than theoretical technical capability.
North Dakota Century Code chapter 51-15 prohibits deceptive acts or practices in connection with the sale or advertisement of merchandise. The chapter is not a packaging artwork manual, but it supplies an enforcement route when the overall environmental message is false or misleading.
National and multistate artwork
Many packages sold in North Dakota carry marks required elsewhere. A national mold may display a resin identifier, and a multistate beverage package may list refund jurisdictions even though North Dakota has no deposit. That is not necessarily a problem, provided the package does not imply a North Dakota refund and the additional symbol remains accurate.
Consumer-protection enforcement
The Attorney General administers chapter 51-15 and can pursue unlawful sales or advertising practices. Federal jurisdiction remains relevant: the Federal Trade Commission can challenge deceptive environmental marketing under section 5 of the FTC Act. The absence of a state-specific artwork rule is not a safe harbour for an unsupported environmental claim.
Practical artwork checklist
Do not treat former chapter 23-32 as current law. Confirm that no later marking, deposit or environmental-claim measure has been enacted, screen the product for specialised requirements, inventory every environmental word and symbol, and document the basis for any multistate mark.
Primary sources and verification
Justia. North Dakota Century Code chapter 23-32, recording repeal by S.L. 2017, chapter 199, section 74. Repealed chapter heading
North Dakota Legislative Branch. Session Laws 2017, chapter 199, environmental-quality recodification. Official session law
North Dakota Legislative Branch. Century Code, official current compilation. Official code portal
North Dakota Legislative Branch. Century Code chapter 51-15, Unlawful Sales or Advertising Practices. Official statute
Plastics Industry Association. State plastic resin identification code survey, hosted by Oregon DEQ. Comparative survey
National Conference of State Legislatures. State beverage-container deposit laws. State-law overview
Federal Trade Commission. Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims, 16 C.F.R. Part 260. Official Green Guides
Federal Trade Commission. Environmental Claims: Summary of the Green Guides. Business guidance
The 2017 repeal should not be converted into a current artwork requirement. Last verified: 21 August 2026.