In my home, waste diversion is a competitive race to 100%. We rinse jars, sort paper, compost food scraps and save what we can from the landfill. Aluminum foil from takeout gets reused, then recycled. Batteries go to a drop-off site. Even the peanut butter jar gets one final cleaning from the dog before it goes in the bin.
What remains in our trash each week is mostly plastic packaging, wrap and bags.
Consumers are inundated with flimsy plastic that does not belong in curbside recycling. Even when we bring reusable produce bags or try to buy less online, the stream keeps coming: bread bags, snack pouches, shipping wrap and newspaper sleeves. Some of this packaging is made from a single type of plastic, but much of it is a fused mix of plastic, foil and paper that is far harder to recover.
Markets for these materials are limited, and when they are tossed into traditional recycling with bottles and jugs, they tangle sorting equipment and contaminate entire loads. Composite packaging is especially problematic because its layers must be separated before they can be reused — a process that is often more expensive than making new material from scratch.
Our environment cannot absorb an endless stream of single-use plastic without better end-of-life options. Plastic waste escapes landfills, clogs storm drains, blows through neighborhoods, and accumulates in waterways and along coastlines. Californians see the consequences every day, even when we try to do the right thing at home.
Local organizations, including Solana Center for Environmental Innovation, are trying to help. We teach residents and youth what can actually be recycled, promote reuse, and test practical alternatives such as reusable food service systems and plastic-film collection programs. These efforts matter, but education and pilot projects alone cannot solve a problem built into the design of modern packaging.
That is why California’s Senate Bill 54 matters. Signed into law in 2022, the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act shifts responsibility for single-use packaging and plastic food service-ware to the companies that make and sell it. The regulations took effect this year and the statewide producer-responsibility system is scheduled to launch in 2027. By 2032, California aims for
— 25% less plastic use, largely through eliminated plastics and new reuse and refill options.
— 100% recyclable or compostable packaging and plastic food service-ware, with actual diversion rates of 65%.
No law this ambitious will roll out perfectly. There will be disputes over definitions, infrastructure gaps and plenty of course corrections. But that is not a reason to delay. It is a reason to stay focused. If California can make producers redesign packaging, fund recovery systems and scale reuse, we will create a model other states and countries can adapt.
Consumers still have a role to play: buying less disposable packaging when possible, using reuse and refill systems where available and discarding materials in the right bins. But we should stop pretending that individual diligence can overcome a marketplace flooded with waste by design. California is finally beginning to match personal responsibility with producer accountability. That is the shift we need.
I look forward to the day when a near-empty landfill bin is not a personal aspiration, but a normal outcome of a smarter system.
Toth is executive director of Solana Center for Environmental Innovation, headquartered in Encinitas. She lives in Cardiff-by-the-Sea.