California Sets New Strict Plastic Reduction Rules in the US

Companies selling food, shampoo and other products wrapped in plastic have a decade to reduce on their use of the polluting materials if they want their wares on store shelves of California.

On Thursday, June 30, 2022, California’s Governor, Gavin Newsom, passed and signed a major legislation aiming to significantly decreasing single-use plastic packaging in the state and drastically boost recycling rates for what is remained. These rules sets the most stringent requirements of the country for the use of plastic packaging, with lawmakers saying they now hope the rules sets a precedent for other states in the country to follow.

Under the new bill, plastic producers would have to decrease plastics in single-use products 10 percent by 2027, which increased to 25 percent by 2032. That decrease in the plastic packaging can be met through a mixture of decreasing package sizing, and switching to a different material and making the product easily refillable and reusable.

By 2033, plastic would have to be recycled at a rate of 65 percent, a large jump from the current rates and it will not apply to beverage bottles made from plastic, which have their own rules of recycling.

The efforts for limiting plastic packaging have been failed in the legislature for many years, but the threat of a similar ballot measure going before the voters in November 2022 prompted the business groups for coming to the negotiating table. Although they have now expressed concern the plastics industry will try to make the requirements weak.