{"id":345673,"date":"2026-06-04T00:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T00:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/345673\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T00:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T00:20:10","slug":"food-producers-challenge-california-recycling-label-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/345673\/","title":{"rendered":"Food producers challenge California recycling label law"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN DIEGO (CN) \u2014\u00a0A California trade association asked a federal judge on Wednesday to block provisions of a new recycling law<\/a> aimed at improving recycling efforts across the state.<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 343 would require food producers and manufacturers to meet new guidelines under the state\u2019s recycling authority<\/a> in order to legally put a recycling label, the chasing arrows, on its products.<\/p>\n

But the California League of Food Producers and 20 other plaintiffs<\/a> claim the law is too vague, bans protected commercial speech<\/a> and will result in less recycling as food producers remove the recycle label altogether rather than face potential liability.<\/p>\n

Attorney Trent Norris, representing the food producers, asked U.S. District Judge William Hayes for a preliminary injunction<\/a>blocking enforcement of the law, also referred to as the Truth in Recycling law. It is scheduled to go into effect on Oct. 4.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here because we\u2019re challenging a variety of provisions that makes recycling less likely to happen,” Norris told Hayes. \u201cOur member companies are removing their labels as quickly as they can from their products because the Oct. 4 deadline does nothing to solve California trash problems, especially in regard to plastics.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result, fewer Californians may actually be inclined to recycle their products, Norris said.<\/p>\n

According to the association, the law as it\u2019s written<\/a> is too vague for food producers to know what products they can label as recyclable and what products might open them up to liability for civil penalties or criminal misdemeanors.<\/p>\n

In particular, Norris took aim at the recycling guidelines mentioned in the Association of Plastic Recyclers. These guidelines include four categories a product could fall into, all of which are open to interpretation and subject to change, the plaintiffs argue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an evolving set of standards,\u201d Norris said, likening the guidelines to a Wikipedia article that can be edited or changed at a whim. \u201cSomething can change in the APR design guide<\/a> that now makes your label illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government, consumers and recycling centers decide on product materials without the knowledge of the producers, Norris said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe product manufacturer, who is liable, has no idea what\u2019s happening downstream,\u201d he added. \u201cWhat\u2019s the obvious response to that? I just go and take the recycling label off the product.”<\/p>\n

For a manufacturer to use the label, the recyclable product must meet four criteria<\/a>: at least 60% of California residents must have access to recycling the product; the product is sorted into streams in facilities represented by 60% of the recycling programs in the state; the product is not rendered non-recyclable by the APR; and does not include heavy metals or PFAS at 100 parts-per-million.<\/p>\n

Hypothetically, if a recycling organization goes out of business or changes its policies, it could put a food manufacturer out of compliance with the law, Norris said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re forced to guess,\u201d Norris said. \u201cIt can also change at a moment\u2019s notice \u2026 There are many alternatives that the state can make and they haven\u2019t. For that reason, we\u2019re asking that SB 343<\/a> be struck down for vagueness and First Amendment claims.\u201d<\/p>\n

But California Deputy Attorney General Megan Richards argued that the law was enacted to end consumer confusion, increase recyclability among products and prevent businesses from greenwashing products.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornians rely on recycling symbols to know when to put a product in a blue bin,\u201d she said. \u201cCalifornia has robust recycling, but it seems that there is still an issue. A lot of that is due to contamination. The Legislature was concerned with keeping these contaminants out of the stream because they are very hard to remove.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s goal is ultimately to get those contaminants out of the recycling stream, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt won\u2019t be enough to just choose a material that might be recyclable and make your product out of that regardless if it\u2019s actually recyclable,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

However, Hayes, a George W. Bush appointee, questioned whether the law actually increased what products went into the landfill instead. He asked if a product falls below one of the 60% criteria, whether 100% of that product would go into the landfill.<\/p>\n

Richards confirmed that would be the case under the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe you could see a drop in products being recycled next year, but maybe in two years you will see these products come back,\u201d she said. \u201cOverall, it will improve recycling by simplifying it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut initially it\u2019s unclear if the volume will increase or decrease,\u201d Hayes said.<\/p>\n

Hayes took issue with the possibility that the new standards relied on geographical locations of the products sold and the fluctuating commercial viability of the materials used<\/a>. He also took issue with the use of ambiguous language around the enforcement of the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs that just left to the eye of the beholder?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Richards agreed that there are situations where the law could be vague.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s not so vague that it needs to be enjoined,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Richards said the attorney general\u2019s office would concede the law\u2019s 60% sorting requirement for purposes of the preliminary injunction.<\/p>\n

If the judge grants the preliminary injunction, Richards asked that he strike only the portions of the law he finds vague.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is extremely difficult for business to conform to what the law requires when it\u2019s not clear what the law does require,\u201d Norris said in his rebuttal.<\/p>\n

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