Calif. enacts toughest plastics reduction rules in the nation
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Companies selling shampoo, food and other products wrapped in plastic have a decade to cut down on their use of the polluting material if they want to stay on California store shelves.
Major legislation passed and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last week aims to significantly reduce singleuse plastic packaging in the state and drastically boost recycling rates for what remains. It sets the nation’s most stringent requirements for the use of plastic packaging, with lawmakers saying they hope it sets a precedent for other states to follow.
Under the bill, plastic producers would have to reduce plastics in singleuse products 10% by 2027, increasing to 25% by 2032. That reduction in plastic packaging can be met through a combination of reducing package sizing, switching to a different material or making the product easily reusable or refillable. Also by 2032, plastic would have to be recycled at a rate of 65%, a massive jump from today’s rates. It wouldn’t apply to plastic beverage bottles, which have their own recycling rules.
Efforts to limit plastic packaging have failed in the Legislature for years, but the threat of a similar ballot measure going before voters in November prompted business groups to come to the negotiating table.
The measure’s three main backers withdrew it from the ballot after the bill passed, though they expressed concern the plastics industry will try to weaken the requirements.
States have passed bans on single-use plastic grocery bags, straws and other items, and plastic water bottles soon won’t be allowed in national parks. But the material is still used in everything from laundry detergent and soap bottles to packaging for vegetables and lunch meats.
Most plastic products in the United States are not recycled, with millions of tons ending up in landfills and the world’s oceans. It harms wildlife and shows up in drinking water in the form of microplastics.
Marine animals that live off the Pacific coast from crabs to whales are ingesting plastics that make their way into the ocean, said Amy Wolfrum mudslide, California ocean policy senior manager at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. She called the bill a “fantastic start.”
Plastic makers would form their own industry group tasked with developing a plan to meet the requirements, which would need approval from the state’s recycling department. They’ll be required to collect $500 million annually from producers for a fund aimed at cleaning up plastic pollution. Maine, Oregon and Colorado have similar producer responsibility systems.
It does not ban styrofoam food packaging but would require it to be recycled at a rate of 30% by 2028, which some supporters said is a de facto ban because the material can’t be recycled. The ballot measure would have banned the material outright. It would have given more power to the state recycling agency to implement the rules rather than letting industry organize itself.