{"id":347038,"date":"2026-06-04T21:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T21:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/347038\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T21:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T21:16:11","slug":"california-launches-sweeping-rules-aimed-at-cutting-plastic-packaging-waste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/347038\/","title":{"rendered":"California Launches Sweeping Rules Aimed at Cutting Plastic Packaging Waste"},"content":{"rendered":"

California is trying something no state has done before: requiring producers to dramatically reduce plastic packaging, recycle more and take responsibility for the waste they create.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Bales of paper to be transferred for recycling at the Active Recycling Co., Inc. recycling center on Earth Day in Los Angeles, California on April 22, 2025. With global production projected to triple in the next 25 years, California is attempting to require producers to dramatically reduce plastic packaging and take responsibility for the waste they create.\u00a0(Patrick T. Fallon\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Regulations are now rolling out<\/a> to make manufacturers responsible for reducing the amount of plastic they use, recycling currently single-use plastic and ensuring that all of their packaging is recyclable or compostable by 2032.<\/p>\n

The regulations, spurred by a state law signed in 2022, also require producers to pay into a fund to help clean up plastic pollution and restore ecosystems, focusing on low-income communities and rural areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe producers of a material should be responsible for the end-of-life costs to manage that material, not the local communities who pay for waste management and recycling,\u201d state Sen. Ben Allen, the bill\u2019s author, said while advocating for SB 54 on the floor of the Senate.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ben Allen, a California state senator, speaks during a forum for candidates for California insurance commissioner at the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) in San Francisco on April 9, 2026. The event brought together candidates to discuss the state\u2019s insurance market, including affordability and coverage challenges facing homeowners. (Beth LaBerge\/KQED)<\/p>\n

The SB 54 regulations approved last month will set step-by-step targets for packaging producers over the next several years: reduce single-use plastic 10% by 2027, 20% by 2030 and 25% by 2032; and recycle 30% of their single-use plastic by 2028; 40% by 2030 and 65% by 2032.<\/p>\n

This week, producers were required to submit baseline data about how much plastic packaging they produce to California\u2019s Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, or CalRecycle, which is administering the regulations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s bigger than anything we\u2019ve ever done at CalRecycle,\u201d said the department\u2019s director, Zoe Heller. \u201cRight now about 40% by volume of what we\u2019re sending to landfill is packaging. This is an opportunity for us to reduce that material that\u2019s being sold into the state in a very meaningful way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some producers have warned that the regulations will increase food costs. While compliance will call for major investments and may increase the cost of packaged foods, a state analysis<\/a> (PDF) indicated Californians would save money overall \u2014 at a rate of about $2.50 for every additional dollar spent \u2014 by bearing less cleanup costs and avoiding illness.<\/p>\n

Many producers are working with the Circular Action Alliance, a nonprofit set up to help them comply with the law.<\/p>\n

On a webinar hosted by the CAA, plastic producers asked questions about the finer details of how to accurately measure the amount of packaging in products and requested that the organization advocate for more time to comply with deadlines, which was denied.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t do anything about the implementation timelines,\u201d said Shane Buckingham, chief of staff for the CAA.<\/p>\n

Some environmental groups, meanwhile, have expressed concern with how the regulations were drawn up and announced Thursday they are suing CalRecycle in a San Francisco court, hoping to close workarounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe regulations create giant loopholes that undermine the law\u2019s recycling and plastic reduction goals,\u201d said Avi Kar, senior attorney and senior director for toxics at the Natural Resources Defense Council.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Resynergi facility, located in Rohnert Park\u2019s SOMO Village, uses a process called pyrolysis in order to recycle plastic. (Courtesy of Resynergi)<\/p>\n

The law is meant to exclude types of plastic recycling that produce significant amounts of hazardous waste. But according to the NRDC, lots of the chemical plastic recycling that should be exempted is allowed as long as the producer has a permit from the Department of Toxic Substances Control.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, the regulations say as long as you have a permit, no matter how much hazardous waste you might produce, you\u2019re okay under the regulations. And we think that\u2019s inconsistent with the law,\u201d said Kar.<\/p>\n

NRDC joined Californians Against Waste Foundation, and international advocacy coalition Oceana in filing the complaint <\/a>on June 2.<\/p>\n

The CAA has until June 15 to submit a plan to the state detailing how its members will comply with the regulations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California is trying something no state has done before: requiring producers to dramatically reduce plastic packaging, recycle more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-347038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}