Lodi\u00a0\u2014\u00a0A battle has been waging in Sacramento over whether beverage cartons \u2014 the ones used for milk, juice, broth, wine, even egg whites \u2014 should get the coveted chasing arrows recycling label.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, the state agency in charge of recycling, CalRecycle, determined the cartons were probably not eligible, because they weren\u2019t being sorted and recycled by the vast majority of the state\u2019s waste haulers, a requirement of the state\u2019s \u201cTruth in Recycling\u201d law, Senate Bill 343.<\/p>\n
Three months later, the agency reversed course.<\/p>\n
The label is critical for product and packaging companies to keep selling in California as the state\u2019s single-use packaging law goes fully into effect. It calls for all single-use packaging products to be recyclable or compostable by 2032. If they\u2019re not, they can\u2019t be sold or distributed in the state.<\/p>\n
According to internal agency emails, documents and industry news releases, the change was prompted by data from the carton packaging industry\u2019s trade group, the Carton Council of North America. The council had also announced it was investing in a carton recycling facility in Lodi. <\/p>\n
The waste agency\u2019s reversal incensed several waste experts, anti-plastic activists and environmentalists, who say cartons have limited, if any, value or recycling potential. They say the new industry-backed facility in Lodi is nothing more than a facade \u2014 one of several similar operations that have failed across the country. CalRecycle\u2019s revised determination about the recyclability of the material, they say, is based on flawed methods that are easy to exploit. <\/p>\n
Some say it\u2019s just the latest exampl<\/a>e of Gov. Gavin Newsom <\/a>and CalRecycle retreating<\/a> from the state\u2019s landmark single-use plastic law, and other ambitious anti-waste and anti-plastic laws that he and the waste agency once touted.<\/p>\n \u201cThe big picture here is that the governor and CalRecycle are creating loopholes,\u201d said Jan Dell, a chemical engineer and founder of Last Beach Cleanup, an anti-plastic organization. \u201cWhat we\u2019ve got here is this Kingdom of California that wants to tell the world that \u2018we\u2019re the best in recycling, that recycling works, that we\u2019re going to lead the way in recycling and build a circular economy.\u2019 But, the reality on the ground is that this stuff\u2019s not recyclable. It just isn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet others say what\u2019s happened with carton material is exactly what the laws were designed to do: motivate plastic and packaging companies to make their packaging recyclable, or develop technologies and markets that will. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are gratified to see the Carton Council making these investments and demonstrating that recycling can work with a sincere commitment from industry,\u201d said Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), who authored both California\u2019s truth in labeling and single-use plastic laws. \u201cFor decades, Californians have been misled into believing that the tons of packaging we consume can be cleanly and effectively recycled if only we put it into the blue bin. Sadly, that is too often untrue.\u201d <\/p>\n Melanie Turner, a CalRecycle spokeswoman, said the agency does not decide what products can get the recycling label; that is a decision made by the manufacturer. The agency\u2019s role is to provide information to the manufacturer about the recyclability of the product in California.<\/p>\n The chasing arrows label has not only become increasingly important as the state\u2019s single-use plastic law comes into effect, but it also provides comfort to consumers who are trying to minimize their environmental footprint. <\/p>\n Although at first glance most milk cartons appear to be primarily made of paper, they are actually comprised of alternating layers of paper, plastic and sometimes aluminum \u2014 a laminated sandwich of materials that extends a product\u2019s shelf life, but also makes it hard to recycle.<\/p>\n The material is a challenge for commercial and residential waste haulers, said Robert Reed, a spokesman for Recology, a large waste hauling company in the Bay Area, Northern California, Oregon and Washington.<\/p>\n Not only are there few buyers for the milk-sodden cartons themselves (data show they currently fetch $0 in the recycling market), they risk contaminating other valuable items. For example, if more than 2% of a bale of mixed paper<\/a> contains cartons, the bale is considered worthless. <\/p>\n In 2024, more than 106,000 tons (220 million pounds) of the old milk, juice and broth containers were dumped in landfills.<\/a> <\/p>\n According to the Carton Council of North America, there are five facilities in North America<\/a> that take cartons and try to give them new life. Four of them, in Wisconsin, Alabama, Canada, and Mexico, say they can harvest the paper fibers out of the containers and resell them to tissue and toilet paper manufacturers. All are more than 2,000 miles from downtown Los Angeles.<\/p>\n The fifth, a facility based in Waterbury, Conn.<\/a>, chops the blended material up, heats it so the plastic layer melts and turns into an adhesive, then presses it between two layers of fire-resistant material to create a gypsum-like roofing material.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear if any of these facilities are paying for used cartons from waste operators, or taking them for free. None of the companies that operate these facilities responded to requests from The Times. <\/p>\n The carton council has announced it is investing in two new facilities<\/a> (including the one in Lodi) where soiled cartons will be turned into roofing material. <\/p>\n But similar operations have either failed in the past, or never materialized. In 2022, the nationwide garbage operator Waste Management invested in a carton-to-roofing-material facility in Des Moines, Iowa. Two years later, it shut down with no explanation.<\/a> Similar facilities in Colorado<\/a> and Pennsylvania<\/a> that were touted in news releases never materialized.<\/p>\n Waste Management did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n In February, a consortium called ReCB, made up of the carton council and two corporate partners, purchased the abandoned Des Moines plant. According to Jan Rayman, ReCB managing director, the facility has been running 24\/7 since June.<\/p>\n The two other partners include Elof Hansson USA, a global trading company, and the Upcycling Group, a construction material production company co-founded by Rayman. <\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t use any glues or chemicals during the process. We don\u2019t use any water in our manufacturing process. So we basically borrow the properties of the carton, and convert this composite package into a high-performance composite-building material,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He said the facility in Iowa pays for used cartons, rather than accepting them for free, indicating they have some value, a key point for the industry in establishing recyclability. Yet regional data from RecyclingMarkets.net shows the material\u2019s value in the Midwest at $0 since January. There is no indication in regional data going back to 2013 that anyone will pay for used cartons.<\/p>\n A showcase facility<\/p>\n The consortium\u2019s Lodi facility is in a rented warehouse on the northern edge of the city, not yet operating. Rayman said it is waiting on permits from the city.<\/p>\n On a recent weekday afternoon, it contained two new, bright blue state-of-the-art processing lines imported from the Czech Republic. They\u2019ll be used to chop, heat and press the cartons. On the floor nearby, a bale of old milk, juice and soup cartons was attracting flies.<\/p>\n