SACRAMENTO, California — California regulators proposed on Monday clarifying what products count as compostable, refillable or reusable in draft rules overhauling how the state manages its plastic waste.
The California Department of Resources, Recycling and Recovery released draft amendments to implement S.B. 54, a 2022 law that requires that thousands of companies reduce single-use plastic packaging and foodware by 25 percent by 2032 and pay for and ensure that 100 percent of their products are recyclable or compostable.
The rules would set up California’s largest-ever program in which producers pay to recycle their products, a trend that has caught on nationally and in other states that aim to cut back on their waste. CalRecycle has estimated that as many as 13,615 manufacturers would have to set up and participate in a special organization to comply with the S.B. 54 rules and pay $500 million per year beginning in 2027.
Monday’s 222 pages of draft rules are mostly aimed at adding definitions and setting up more guardrails around the process, including by clarifying what counts as “recycled materials.” The department received over 2,500 public comments to its initial draft, released this spring.
