California on Track to Implement Nation-Leading Effort to Slash Single-Use Plastic and Packaging Waste

Packaging makes up over 50% of what we throw away by volume and is a major contributor to climate and trash pollution.

SEATTLE (Waste Advantage): CalRecycle has released key building blocks for California’s groundbreaking law to cut single-use plastic and packaging waste. Packaging makes up over 50% of what we throw away by volume and is a major contributor to climate and trash pollution.

Meeting aggressive deadlines in the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act (SB 54, Allen, Chapter 75, Statutes of 2022), CalRecycle published:

•          Draft rules detailing new industry responsibilities to cut waste and increase recycling
•          Covered Materials Category List of potential materials regulated by SB 54
•          SB 54 Report to the Legislature on implementation progress

“California is setting clear standards to cut waste and recycle single-use products to lower pollution, while growing innovative companies and new jobs,” CalRecycle Director Rachel Machi Wagoner said. “Building a circular economy that reuses products that are built to last instead of turning raw materials into trash is a roadmap to California’s waste-free future.” 

SB 54 requires by 2032 that an industry-run Producer Responsibility Organization implement reforms to:   

Cut by 25% Single-use plastic:

-Packaging

-Foodware

Recycle 65% of single-use plastic:

-Packaging

-Foodware

Ensure 100% of single-use:

-packaging and

-plastic food ware

Is recyclable or compostable.

Other benefits of the law include: 

•          Rewarding waste-free and pollution-free product innovation and reuse options. 
•          Creating a $5 billion fund to address the environmental impacts of plastics. 

Courtesy: www.wasteadvantage.com

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