Packaging Bills Await Fate in State Legislature
The final week of legislative activity before adjournment is upon us and sweeping legislation regarding single-use packaging awaits consideration on the State Senate floor in the form of AB 1080 (Gonzalez), while an identical bill, SB 54 (Allen), is pending on the Assembly floor. The measures only require a simple majority vote in each house to pass.
The bills have been discussed with our membership since Ag Council’s legislative conference earlier in the year and covered in detail during recent webinars.
AB 1080 and SB 54 mandate a statewide 75 percent reduction of the waste generated from single-use packaging and priority single-use products through source reduction (less packaging), recycling or composting by Jan. 1, 2030.
Specific recycling rates are mandated in the bills for single-use packaging and priority single-use products. The measures require the following recycling rates:
· Not less than 30 percent by Jan. 1, 2026 (extended by two years in recent amendments)
· Not less than 40 percent by Jan. 1, 2028
· Not less than 75 percent by Jan. 1, 2030
If the legislation is approved by the State Legislature and signed by Governor Newsom, many Ag Council members will be subject to new requirements under the definition of producer, which is defined as one that manufactures, sells, or offers for sale the single-use packaging or product in California. The measures are solely focused on the manufacturing side and do not contain a shared responsibility for local jurisdictions and waste haulers who are critical to the success of any waste management program.
In the State Capitol, policy hearings and advocacy meetings have taken place throughout the year regarding the legislation. Multiple amendments have been taken to address stakeholder issues in recent weeks and a few of those are described below.
Of note, a provision is included in the legislation stating that CalRecycle shall not impose a recycled content requirement or any requirement in direct conflict with any federal statute or regulation. This issue was raised by food-related entities, including Ag Council members and others, in advocacy meetings as one that should be addressed due to potential food safety and other concerns. The provision certainly does not resolve other issues detailed below, but it is notable.
The legislation also authorizes the creation of a checklist of source reduction measures for packaging, along with guidance for producers on how to use the checklist. This provision includes an evaluation regarding whether it is even feasible for an entity to implement source reduction measures and is intended to provide regulatory flexibility to the state department charged with implementing the legislation – CalRecycle.
A more recent amendment allows CalRecycle to adjust the recycling requirements either up or down by 10 percent. The additional ability in the latest version of the legislation to lower the recycling requirement is intended, for example, to allow flexibility for CalRecycle to reduce the rate in the case of an economic recession.
Though the authors of AB 1080 and SB 54 adopted multiple amendments in recent weeks in an attempt to address concerns by various stakeholders, significant challenges remain in the bills.
As an example, new amendments subject all types of packaging materials to the requirements of the legislation, not just plastic materials, even though the policy impetus for the bills was to protect the environment from plastic waste.
After being removed from a previous version, the prohibition of sale provision is once again in the bill. This requires producers (see earlier definition) of single-use packaging to ensure that the packaging offered for sale, sold, distributed or imported into California is recyclable or compostable by Jan. 1, 2030, thereby placing liability on producers. This language does not reflect the shared responsibility desperately needed to also hold others in the waste stream accountable for reducing packaging waste statewide.
Certainly, waste reduction is an important goal that we can all agree upon and work toward together. Many in the market are doing just that, including our members, and we want collaborate to achieve this mutual objective in California.
However, at this time, given the extremely broad scope of AB 1080 and SB 54, new fee authority to CalRecycle, data collection mandates, and other issues, Ag Council remains opposed to the legislation.
Please contact Ag Council at ph. (916) 443-4887 with any questions.