California Gov. Gavin Newsom is ordering a redo of the state's landmark plastic packaging and extended producer responsibility law, citing concerns about costs for businesses and families.
Newsom on March 7 ordered the state agency CalRecycle to launch a streamlined process for restarting regulations to implement SB-54, as the 2022 law is called.
"The governor is directing CalRecycle to restart these regulations to ensure California's bold recycling law can achieve its goal of cutting plastic pollution and is implemented fairly — minimizing costs for small businesses and working families as much as possible," Newsom spokesman Daniel Villasenor said in a statement.
The governor's decision, however, prompted one coalition of environmental groups to threaten to revive a statewide ballot referendum on plastic pollution.
The coalition — which includes Break Free from Plastic, Californians Against Waste and the Surfrider Foundation — accused Newsom and the industry of betraying a 2022 compromise that saw environmentalists withdraw their ballot measure in exchange supporting passage of SB-54.
"Advocates are committed to reevaluating all possible avenues to achieving the targets and goals in SB-54, including reviving the ballot initiative to let voters decide this issue," the group said.
CalRecycle had faced a March 8 deadline under the law to finish writing a regulatory framework to begin to implement the law.
Business groups had mounted a campaign in recent months urging Newsom and CalRecycle to rethink some of the regulations, including provisions they said would have put too many limits on chemical recycling and limited the law's ability to meet its goals.
SB-54 was signed into law by Newsom in 2022.
The California Chamber of Commerce praised the regulatory redo, calling for an expedited process and arguing that “the next steps in this process must focus on lowering pricing and taxes for Californians, at a time when the daily cost of living remains their top priority.”
“Today’s decision by CalRecycle is a prudent one, that provides the necessary time and attention to ensure regulations related to SB 54 are implemented in a thoughtful and cost-effective manner,” the chamber said. “For more than three years, industry leaders have worked tirelessly on this issue to ensure that pocketbooks of consumers are protected and that businesses can rightly adapt to the new law.”
“We look forward to quickly resolving a number of outstanding issues through an expedited regulatory process as California moves towards the 2027 compliance deadline,” the chamber said.
Other environmental groups said they were disappointed in Newsom's decision and called it a giveaway to plastics and fossil fuel companies.
"We are disappointed that Gov. Gavin Newsom failed to implement what he calls 'the most significant overhaul of California's plastics and packaging recycling policy in history,' which puts the interests of the plastics and fossil fuel industry above the wallets and welfare of Californians and the environment," a joint statement from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Ocean Conservancy and Oceana, said.
They accused businesses of using the regulatory process to lobby against provisions that were decided in the legislative debates, including limits on chemical recycling and a $5 billion fund that industry would pay into over 10 years to help mitigate past plastic pollution.
State lawmakers who supported SB-54, including its main author in 2022, had publicly urged Newsom not to delay implementation, as had several members of Congress from California.
SB-54 set ambitious targets, including, by 2032, achieving a 25 percent reduction in single-use plastic packaging and a recycling rate of 65 percent for single-use plastic packaging and foodware.
It tasked a group of companies, known as a producer responsibility organization, with implementing the law. The Los Angeles Times had reported that that group had met with Newsom's office to urge more time to finish the regulations.
Sources said Newsom does not want to change the timeline for when the law would go into effect but rather wants regulations that preserve the ambitious law's goals in a "cost-effective way."
The American Chemistry Council said California’s should focus on policies that increase the amount of recycled feedstock available to be used in new packaging and products.
“ACC looks forward to working constructively with Governor Newsom, CalRecycle, and other stakeholders to craft regulations that achieve this objective in a way that works for both consumers and businesses and encourages innovative recycling technologies — helping meet the ambitious recycling targets envisioned in SB 54,” said Ross Eisenberg, vice president of ACC’s plastics division.