What Happened
On Monday, October 14, 2024, the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) opened a public comment period on changes to the previously proposed regulations implementing the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act (Act). The 15-day written comment period runs through Tuesday, October 29, 2024.
The Act establishes California’s extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme for packaging, which shifts the financial costs of recycling and disposing of single-use packaging to the manufacturers or brand holders of products sold in such packaging.
Why It Matters
CalRecycle’s proposed changes to its proposed regulation are extensive. Among many others, they include a new definition for “in the state” and a revised definition of “food service ware,” both of which are anticipated to provide significantly more clarity regarding which companies and transactions the EPR scheme will capture.
If adopted, the changes to the proposed regulation will even have the potential to limit future acceptable recycling processes. One of the newly proposed provisions explicitly limits what types of processes qualify as “recycling” and imposes strict requirements for demonstrating that a nonmechanical recycling process constitutes recycling under the EPR scheme. CalRecycle appears to be bolstering a trend we are seeing of state skepticism of “advanced recycling” or “chemical recycling” as a solution to plastic waste and disposal.
What Comes Next
California is one of five states that have enacted EPR laws for packaging. The other four — Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, and Oregon — each have varying requirements and are in different stages of regulatory development. With no federal scheme on the horizon, however, California’s actions may have far-reaching ramifications if other states developing EPR schemes for packaging decide to follow the lead of the world’s fifth largest economy.