{"id":11422,"date":"2026-06-01T21:31:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T21:31:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=11422"},"modified":"2026-06-01T21:31:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T21:31:59","slug":"california-launches-first-phase-of-plastic-crackdown-amid-chorus-of-complaints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=11422","title":{"rendered":"California launches first phase of plastic crackdown\u00a0amid\u00a0chorus of complaints"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By Leslie Kaufman, Bloomberg<\/strong><\/p>\n

After years of political battles, rewrites and regulatory infighting, the first phase of California\u2019s landmark plastic pollution law is finally going live June 1.<\/p>\n

Read more Can I vote in person without a ballot in California\u2019s June 2 primary election?<\/a><\/p>\n

Almost nobody is happy about it.<\/p>\n

ALSO SEE: <\/strong>Plastic bags don\u2019t go in the recycling bin. What should you do instead?<\/p>\n

Industry groups and compliance lawyers say that despite major rewrites done at their demand, the rules are still opaque and expensive. Recycling and anti-waste advocates counter that regulators weakened the law with exemptions and carve-outs that could undermine its environmental goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a convoluted law,\u201d said Christopher Smith, a lawyer at Saul Ewing who advises companies on compliance. \u201cAnd there are going to be legal challenges\u201d to it, he added.<\/p>\n

Melanie Turner, a spokesperson for state agency CalRecycle, said the regulations reflect engagement from many parties and \u201csupport successful implementation,\u201d as do other resources the state has provided.\u00a0Turner pointed to new guidance issued on May 1, and said additional materials will follow.<\/p>\n

The law\u2019s rollout \u201cis a dial, not a switch,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Senate Bill 54 requires, by 2032, a 25% reduction in single-use plastic packaging and food service ware; that 100% of such packaging sold in the state be recyclable or compostable; and that 65% of single-use plastic packaging actually be recycled.<\/p>\n

The stakes are high:\u00a0California estimates\u00a0that municipalities spend $1 billion\u00a0a year just on cleaning up litter, and\u00a0that packaging waste makes up more than 50% of what is sent to state landfills by volume.<\/p>\n

As plastic trash has piled up and strained recycling systems and budgets, six other states \u2014 Maine, Oregon, Colorado, Minnesota, Maryland and Washington \u2014 have adopted some form of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) law for packaging. These aim\u00a0to make manufacturers financially or operationally responsible for managing the waste created by their products and packaging.<\/p>\n

California\u2019s goes the furthest.\u00a0To meet its targets, it must\u00a0build or expand systems to reduce use of plastic, redesign packaging, increase recycling infrastructure and more, says Rachel Wagoner. She formerly ran CalRecycle and now consults for corporations on compliance.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThis bill attempted to do what four or five bills would do,\u201d Wagoner said. \u201cTrying to build multiple systems in one system that\u2019s never been built before.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the initial June 1 deadline, companies must register and report how much packaging they sell in California. They\u00a0generally must register through a producer responsibility organization (PRO) \u2014\u00a0a nonprofit designated by the state to oversee implementation of the law \u2014 or report directly to regulators. Or they can prove they qualify for an exemption.<\/p>\n

Lawyers and industry groups say even this first step is sowing confusion.<\/p>\n

Determining whether a company qualifies as a \u201cproducer\u201d is not always straightforward, they say. Grocery stores that wrap sandwiches in-house may be considered producers, while stores selling prepackaged sandwiches may not. Farmers packaging products on site may qualify for exemptions, but the process for obtaining those remains unclear.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump administration says it will comply with court order to pause $1.8 billion compensation fund<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cCompanies are trying to understand registration requirements, reporting obligations and how they fit into the new compliance structure,\u201d said Danielle Waterfield of Ameripen, a packaging trade group. \u201cThat takes a tremendous amount of data collection and internal coordination.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turner said just shy of 3,000 producers had registered as of May 27. In an earlier impact assessment, the state estimated that 5,700 would be obligated to do so.<\/p>\n

The reporting requirement is significant because companies must quantify the packaging they put into the California market \u2014 data that will eventually determine their financial obligations to the PRO. Under the law, producers must give $500 million annually to a state plastic pollution mitigation fund by next year.<\/p>\n

Wagoner called the expected costs to producers \u201cstaggering,\u201d with even medium-sized businesses likely paying millions or tens of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n

The rollout is unfolding amid a broader backlash to such policies. Earlier this year, 10 Republican attorneys general\u00a0warned dozens of companies participating in plastics-reduction initiatives that coordinated action could violate antitrust law. Meanwhile, trade groups have filed\u00a0lawsuits\u00a0 challenging EPR and packaging-reduction laws in states including Oregon and Colorado.<\/p>\n

Nick Lapis, director of advocacy for Californians Against Waste, a nonprofit that helped push for the law, is nonplussed by industry\u00a0protests. \u201cTaxpayers and ratepayers are already paying for this system,\u201d he said. \u201cThe whole idea behind EPR is that producers should bear more responsibility for the waste their products create.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Lapis isn\u2019t happy either. His group says the final regulations created too many exemptions and weakened portions of the original bill, particularly around chemical recycling and plastic-to-fuel technologies that many environmental groups argue should not count as true recycling. Californians Against Waste is among the organizations planning\u00a0to sue\u00a0the Newsom administration.<\/p>\n

There is something that Lapis and Wagoner can agree on: that SB 54 likely asks too much without the appropriate support structures in place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe targets in the bill are very aggressive,\u201d said Lapis. \u201cWe have said for many years that we should have a suite of policies to get there and not just put it all on the manufacturers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or as Wagoner put\u00a0it, \u201cI fear it\u2019s too heavy. It\u2019s falling into the weight of its own intentions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Sparks looking for second win of the season against Las Vegas Aces<\/a><\/p>\n

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a92026 Bloomberg L.P.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Companies and environmental advocates alike say the anti-pollution law lacks robust systems to support it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-based-on-facts-either-observed-and-verified-directly-by-the-reporter-or-reported-and-verified-from-knowledgeable-sources","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nCalifornia launches first phase of plastic crackdown\u00a0amid\u00a0chorus of complaints - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=11422\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"California launches first phase of plastic crackdown\u00a0amid\u00a0chorus of complaints - 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