SACRAMENTO, California — Makers of clothes will have to recycle their products in California after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a nation-leading bill into law Saturday.
State Sen. Josh Newman’s S.B. 707 calls for clothing producers to create and fund an organization to help launch a textile recycling program that would be overseen by CalRecycle.
Newman’s bill — which explicitly excludes items such as mattresses and carpets — is meant to reduce the amount of textiles that end up in landfills every year. About 1.2 million tons of textiles were thrown out in California in 2021, and Newman’s office has said that while most of that material could be reused or recycled, only about 15 percent currently is.
The California Chamber of Commerce and the American Apparel & Footwear Association opposed the bill, which was supported by a broad coalition of environmental groups and local governmental waste and recycling agencies. Newman had negotiated with big textile producers since first introducing the bill in the spring of 2023.
