The bill would have created the world's toughest legal mandate for recycled content in plastic bottles — up to 50 percent by 2030. But Gov. Gavin Newsom said in his veto that he felt last-minute changes designed to mollify the beverage industry shifted too much responsibility away from companies.

A federal judge in Arkansas has ruled that rotational molder Hendren Plastics Inc. violated minimum wage laws for its role hiring participants in a local drug rehabilitation program that was offered as an alternative to possible prison time.

Two major PET are leaving the sector's main trade group, the Association of Plastic Recyclers, in a dispute over how aggressively recyclers should support minimum content legislation and other laws.

The Save Our Seas Act 2.0, the main federal legislation thus far on marine plastics issues, advanced in Congress. But a provision backed by the plastics industry on chemical recycling was stripped out.

A new report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation said the much greener production methods across materials industries — plastics, steel, aluminum and cement — is needed to meet United Nations climate goals.

A congressional hearing on marine debris, led by members from industrial Midwestern states bordering the Great Lakes, dived into concerns about plastics pollution in those five lakes. They make up the largest freshwater system in the world.

Consumer product maker SC Johnson has left the Plastics Industry Association, the latest consumer product maker to quit the trade group over pressure from environmental groups concerned about policies over single-use plastics. SC Johnson's departure follows Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. leaving in July.

A few dozen plastics products are on a Sept. 20 list of products exempted from U.S. government tariffs against Chinese imports.

An ambitious plan to require single-use plastics and packaging to meet 75 percent recycling targets stalled in the California legislature in mid-September, but it still enjoys the support of some prominent lawmakers. They say plans to aggressively cut packaging waste will be back. takes a detailed look at what the bold plan would have done.

California's legislature has passed the world's toughest standards around recycled content in plastic bottles, requiring 50 percent recycled content by 2030. But to win passage, the law had to include some potentially significant "off ramps" of waivers if companies cannot comply.

A major plan by California lawmakers to require a 75 percent recycling rate for single-use plastics and packaging stalled for the year in the Legislature Sept. 14. But supporters vowed to bring it back.

Updated: Lawmakers in Sacramento have softened a controversial bill setting tough 75 percent recycling rate requirements for packaging, including plastics. The changes have switched the American Chemistry Council from opposing the bill to being neutral, while the Plastics Industry Association remains opposed. A leading California environmental group still strongly supports the legislation.

The Environmental Integrity Project is calling for tougher federal and state enforcement of air pollution and disaster planning laws for plastics plants in Houston, saying that the shale gas fueled boom in the plastics industry there will cause health risks to residents.

California lawmakers are closing in on decisions on two bills to dramatically reshape how plastic packaging is regulated there, potentially requiring 75 percent recycling rates for single-use packaging and 75 recycled content in PET bottles.

Westech Building Products LLC is closing its Mount Vernon, Ind., vinyl fence, deck and railing factory, the company told Indiana state regulators in an Aug. 23 letter.