On October 5, 2021, California’s Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 343 Truth in Labeling for Recyclable Materials (the bill), prohibiting the use of misleading recycling claims on non-recyclable products and packaging.
The bill prohibits deceptive or misleading claims about the recyclability of products or packaging, including displaying “chasing arrows” symbol or any recyclability claim, unless the product or packaging is considered recyclable pursuant to statewide recyclability criteria and is of a material type and form that routinely becomes feedstock used in the production of new products or packaging.
For the implementation of the law by January 1, 2024, the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (the Department) is required to provide information to the public, to evaluate whether a product or packaging is recyclable in the state according to the recyclability criteria they develop and is of material types and forms that routinely becomes feedstock used in the production of new products or packaging. To achieve this the Department must do following:
Based on that characterization study, a product or packaging is considered recyclable in the state, if the product or packaging is of a material type and form that meets both of the following requirements:
A product or packaging shall not be considered recyclable in the state if any of following criteria are met:
Manufacturers will have up to 18 months after the Department publishes the information, or until January 1, 2024, whichever is later, to comply with the requirements to prevent deceptive or misleading recyclability claims on product and packaging.
A product or packaging is considered recyclable in the state if the product or packaging has a demonstrated recycling rate of at least 75 percent, meaning that not less than 75 percent of the product or packaging sorted and aggregated in the state is reprocessed into new products or packaging.
A product or packaging not collected by the curbside programs, before January 1, 2030, is considered recyclable if 60% of the product or packaging sold in the state is recovered and if that material has enough commercial value to be effectively recycled. This recovery percentage is increased from 60% to 75% beginning January 1, 2030.
The product or packaging is recyclable if it is part of, and in compliance with, a program established on or after January 1, 2022, governing the recyclability of that product or packaging and the director determines that it will not increase contamination of curbside recycling or deceive consumers.
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