US states

    SB 54 (California)

    California's Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act, the most demanding US packaging EPR law.

    SB 54 combines conventional EPR funding with source-reduction and recyclability mandates for single-use plastic packaging and foodware. Producers fund the system through the PRO and must also meet statutory reduction and recycling-rate requirements over time, which makes it a product policy law rather than only a financing mechanism.

    CalRecycle sets the covered material list and approves the PRO's program plan, so obligations are shaped by both statute and approved plan. That two-layer structure means the operational requirements can change without new legislation.

    For most producers the practical work is the same as elsewhere but at higher resolution: California-resolved sales data, component-level material identification, and evidence for any recyclability claim relied on.

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    Related terms

    • Circular Action Alliance (CAA)

      The producer responsibility organisation selected to run packaging EPR programs in most US states with packaging EPR laws.

    • Covered material

      The packaging and paper categories that a specific EPR program regulates, defining exactly what must be reported and paid for.

    • Extended producer responsibility (EPR)

      A policy model that makes the producer of a packaged good financially and often operationally responsible for its packaging at end of life.

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