Sacramento, California – Companies that sell shampoo, food, and other plastic-wrapped products have a decade to reduce the use of contaminants if they want their merchandise to be on store shelves in California.
Major legislation passed and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday aims to significantly reduce disposable plastic packaging in the state and drastically increase recycling rates of what’s left. It sets the country’s strictest requirements for the use of plastic packaging, and lawmakers say they expect it to set a precedent for other states.
“We’re ruining the planet and we need to change it,” Democratic Sen. Bob Hertzberg said before voting on the bill.
“California will not tolerate plastic waste that fills our waterways and makes breathing difficult. We hold polluters responsible and cut plastics at the source,” Newsom said after signing the law, according to Agence France-Presse.
The Nature Conservancy, a non-profit environmental group, called it “the most comprehensive plastic waste reduction legislation in the country,” AFP reported.
According to the measure, plastic producers should reduce plastics in disposable products by 10% by 2027, increasing to 25% by 2032. This reduction in plastic packaging can be achieved through a combination of reducing the size of packaging, switching to a different material or making the product easily reusable or rechargeable. Also in 2032, plastic should be recycled at a rate of 65%, a massive leap from current rates. It would not apply to plastic beverage bottles, which have their own recycling standards.
Efforts to limit plastic packaging have failed in the Legislature for years, but the threat of a similar voting measure in front of voters in November prompted business groups to come to the negotiating table. The three main proponents of the measure withdrew it from the vote after the bill was passed, although they expressed concern that the plastics industry will try to weaken the requirements.
States have passed bans on disposable plastic grocery bags, straws and other items, and plastic water bottles will soon not be allowed in national parks. But the material is still ubiquitous, used in everything from laundry detergents and soap bottles to packaging for vegetables and lunch meats. Most plastic products in the United States are not recycled, with millions of tons ending up in landfills and oceans around the world. It harms wildlife and appears in drinking water in the form of microplastics.
Marine animals living on the Pacific coast, from crabs to whales, are ingesting plastics that plunge into the ocean, said Amy Wolfram, senior director of ocean policy at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. . He described the bill as a “fantastic start” to tackling a major problem.
Plastic manufacturers would form their own industrial group tasked with developing a plan to meet the requirements, which would need approval from the state recycling department. They will be asked to raise $ 500 million annually from producers for a fund to clean up plastic pollution. Maine, Oregon and Colorado have similar producer liability systems.
It does not ban polystyrene foam food packaging, but it would require them to be recycled at a rate of 30% by 2028, which some supporters said is a de facto ban because the material cannot be recycled. The electoral measure would have banned the material altogether. It would have given more power to the state recycling agency to implement the rules instead of letting the industry get organized.
Senator Ben Allen, a Santa Monica Democrat who led the negotiations on the bill, said he represented an example of two groups that often disagree, environmentalists and industry, who come together to make a positive change.
He called it a “strong and meaningful commitment that will put California at the forefront of tackling a major global problem.”
Although they withdrew their election initiative, proponents of the measure said they remain concerned that the industry will try to reduce the bill. The three sponsors of the initiative were Linda Escalante of the Natural Resources Defense Council; Michael Sangiacomo, former head of waste management company Recology; and Caryl Hart, a member of the California Coastal Commission.
Joshua Baca of the American Chemistry Council, which represents the plastics industry, said the bill unfairly limits and limits the amount of post-consumer recycled plastic that can be used to meet the 25% reduction requirement. new innovative recycling technologies “.
The bill bans the incineration and combustion of plastic, but leaves open the possibility of some forms of so-called chemical recycling.
Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics, said that while the California bill goes beyond any other state when it comes to reducing plastic pollution, it still falls short. He said it will only lead to a 10% reduction in general packaging so that producers can make products that can be filled or switched to other materials. He also said it depends too much on failed plastics recycling policies.
Plastic production is expected to triple worldwide by 2050, he said.
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