Litigation Threatens Enforcement of California’s SB 54 Efforts To Reduce Plastic Waste

California’s enforcement of Senate Bill 54 faces competing legal challenges, with one lawsuit filed by several state attorneys general attacking the statute’s constitutionality and another filed by environmental groups arguing the implementing regulations unlawfully weaken the law.

CalRecycle, the state agency overseeing recycling management in California, estimates that packaging constitutes over 50% (by volume) of waste disposed of in California’s landfills. The Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act—known more commonly as Senate Bill 54—was signed into law in 2022 and requires reductions in the use of and increases in recycling and composting of single-use plastic packaging and food service ware.

Senate Bill 54 is one of a number of California’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws, which typically seek to hold businesses accountable for the financial burden of managing the waste streams associated with consumer products and packaging. Other EPR laws in California target textiles, batteries, battery-embedded products, carpets and other goods.

CalRecycle has characterized SB 54 as “the most significant overhaul of California’s plastics and packaging recycling policy in history,” and as going “further than any other state on cutting single-use plastic at the source and represents a giant step toward a more circular economy that is essential to combat climate change.” 

Compliance with SB 54 presents significant burdens to businesses, such as joining a producer responsibility organization (PRO), complex data submissions, payment of eco-modulated fees, and compliance with aggressive recycling and source reduction benchmarks. 

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