By Marissa Heffernan Plastics Recycling Update
Legislators have approved EPR for printed paper and packaging in California. | Kit Leong/Shutterstock
This story has been updated.
California’s printed paper and packaging extended producer responsibility bill passed the state Senate unanimously June 30 and was signed into law, just before the deadline to pull a plastic-tax measure from November’s state ballot.
Senate Bill 54 was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, and ballot measure backers withdrew their ballot effort.
California compromise
SB 54, which has appeared in different iterations over the past three years, will create a producer responsibility organization (PRO) to run a collection and recycling program with state oversight, establishing a form of extended producer responsibility (EPR) for printed paper and packaging.
Meanwhile, the California Recycling and Plastic Pollution Reduction Act ballot measure, originally submitted in November 2019, aimed to build up both recycling infrastructure and composting infrastructure, along with other areas, all funded by a plastic tax paid by manufacturers. The plastics industry opposed the ballot measure and was grudgingly supportive of SB 54 as an alternative to it.
California legislators, environmentalists, and industry representatives had been working to finalize the language in SB 54, in hopes that a comprehensive bill would persuade ballot measure backers to withdraw their proposal.
To remove the measure from the ballot, the three petitioners behind it needed to agree to do so 130 days before the Nov. 8 election. That deadline meant that, effectively, SB 54 would have needed to pass out of both the Assembly and Senate by the end of June to provide enough time for them to withdraw the measure as part of a compromise.
After days of final-hour work, the amended bill passed the Assembly on June 29 on a vote of 67-2 and the Senate on June 30 on a vote of 29-0.
Gov. Newsom acted quickly to sign the bill on the evening of June 30, and ballot backers subsequently pulled their initiative.
Editor’s Note: In New Jersey, the Senate Environment and Energy Committee on June 13 took testimony on S426, sponsored by committee chairman Bob Smith. The bill would require manufacturers of all packaging products sold in New Jersey, including plastics, to adopt and implement stewardship plans.
The Sierra Club testified: “New Jersey has been a leader when it comes to reducing plastics with our newly implemented plastic bag ban law and recycled content law. Extended Producer Responsibility otherwise known as EPR is now the next logical step in order to reduce plastic packaging.
Smith said his committee would be back in the fall, following the legislature’s summer recess, to act on the bill with possible amendments that his staff might draft after reviewing all the testimony from environmental and manufacturing groups.
Recent activity on SB 54
SB 54, the Plastic Pollution Producer Responsibility Act, mandates a 25% reduction of single-use plastic packaging and foodservice products by 2032. It also shifts a portion of packaging to reuse or refill systems and calls for a needs assessment, paid for by the PRO but overseen by the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle).
The bill also includes eco-modulated fees charged to producers, which is designed to incentivize them to use sustainable, recyclable or reusable materials.
In the days leading up to the deadline, the bill was amended multiple times to strengthen environmental protection and government oversight and enforcement.
The changes include more clarification that CalRecycle will revoke approval of the PRO if it fails to meet the requirements of the bill.
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