Companies that sell shampoo, food and other products wrapped in plastic have a decade to cut back on their use of polluting ingredients if they want their wares on California store shelves.
Gavin Newsom on Thursday aims to reduce single-use plastic packaging in the state and drastically increase recycling rates to make up for what’s left. It sets the nation’s strictest requirements for the use of plastic packaging, with lawmakers saying they hope it will set a precedent for other states to follow.
“We’re ruining the planet and we have to change it,” Sen. Bob Hertzberg, a Democrat, said before voting on the bill.
Under the bill, plastic producers must reduce plastics in single-use products by 10% by 2027, increasing it to 25% by 2032. Reduction in plastic packaging can be accomplished through reducing package size, switching to a different material, or a combination. Making the product easily reusable or refillable. Furthermore, by 2032, plastics will have to be recycled at a rate of 65%, which is a huge jump from today’s rates. This will not apply to plastic beverage bottles, which have their own recycling rules.
Efforts to limit plastic packaging have failed in the legislature for years, but a similar ballot threat before voters in November prompted business groups to get to the negotiating table. Three main proponents of the measure withdrew the bill after it was passed, although they expressed concern that the plastics industry would attempt to dilute the requirements.
States have banned single-use plastic grocery bags, straws and other items, and soon plastic water bottles will no longer be allowed in national parks. But the material is still ubiquitous, used in everything from bottles of laundry detergent and soap to the packaging of vegetables and lunch meats. Most plastic products in the United States are not recycled, with millions of tons ending up in landfills and the world’s oceans. It harms wildlife and shows up as microplastics in drinking water.
Marine animals that live off the Pacific coast, from crabs to whales, are swallowing plastics that make their way into the ocean, said Amy Wolfram, senior manager of California ocean policy at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. He called the bill a “great start” to address a major problem.
Plastic manufacturers will form their own industry group to develop a plan to meet the requirements, which will require approval from the state’s recycling department. A fund aimed at cleaning up plastic pollution would require them to collect $500 million annually from producers. Maine, Oregon and Colorado have similar producer responsibility systems.
It does not ban Styrofoam food packaging, but it will need to be recycled at a rate of 30% by 2028, which some proponents said is a real ban because the material cannot be recycled. The ballot measure would have banned content outright. This would have given the state’s recycling agency more power to enforce the rules rather than letting the industry organize itself.
Sen. Ben Allen, a Santa Monica Democrat who led negotiations on the bill, said it represented an example of two groups that are often at odds—environmentalists and industry—come together to make positive change. .
He called it a “strong, meaningful agreement” that would put California at the forefront of addressing a major global problem. Although he withdrew his ballot initiative, supporters of the measure said they worried the industry would try to undercut the bill. Three proponents of this initiative were Linda Escalante of the Natural Resources Defense Council; Michael Sangiacomo, former head of waste management company Recology; and Caryl Hart, member of the California Coastal Commission.
Joshua Baca of the American Chemistry Council, which represents the plastics industry, said the bill incorrectly reduces the amount of post-consumer recycled plastic that can be used to meet the 25% reduction requirement. and limits “new, innovative recycling technologies”. The bill bans the incineration and combustion of plastics, but leaves out the possibility of some form of so-called chemical recycling.
Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics, said California’s bill goes further than any other state when it comes to reducing plastic pollution, but it still falls short. She said this would reduce overall packaging by only 10% as manufacturers could make the products refillable or switch to other materials. She also said that it relies heavily on failed plastic recycling policies.
He said that by 2050, the production of plastics globally should triple.