California lawmakers want to require recycling of vinyl and composite flooring for the first time in the United States, proposing a bill that would mandate fees on companies to pay for infrastructure and set a potential 25 percent recycling rate target.
The plan, introduced June 10 as part of legislation to revamp the state's existing carpet recycling program, would set recycled-content levels for resilient flooring like luxury vinyl tile and penalize companies for using chemicals the state considers hazardous.
The bill is in its early stages and key details could change. But as policy, it could mark a broadening of the state's approach to plastic products, from rules mainly aimed at single-use packaging to now examining waste from durable, longer lifespan plastics goods.
One of the environmental groups backing it, the Sacramento-based National Stewardship Action Council (NSAC), believes it would be the world's first extended producer responsibility program for LVT and resilient flooring.
The bill's lead sponsor, Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, D-Winters, said EPR legislation is needed because LVT and other flooring are growing in market share and displacing carpets, and there are few if any recycling options for the flooring.
California has had a carpet recycling program since 2011.