SACRAMENTO, California — California’s recycling agency proposed loosening its rules on plastic waste reduction late Friday after Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered a redo to lower costs to businesses.
What happened: CalRecycle released a new version of its draft rules requiring manufacturers to pay to recycle and reduce single-use plastic packaging Friday night as part of its work to implement a landmark 2022 law, SB 54.
Why this matters: The law would set up California’s largest-ever program in which producers pay to recycle their products to avoid plastic ending up in landfills, requiring that thousands of companies reduce single-use plastic packaging and foodware by 25 percent by 2032 and pay for and ensure that 100 percent of their products are recyclable or compostable.
But the rules got caught up in the state’s wider debate over the feasibility and affordability of the state’s nation-leading environmental mandates after Newsom directed CalRecycle to rewrite its draft rules the day they were due to be finalized in March, citing a need to lower costs and echoing the concerns of retail and manufacturing groups.
