States sue California over plastic recycling mandate

(CN) — Over a dozen states and a wholesaler association sued the administrator of California’s agency responsible for recycling Monday, seeking to stop a state policy that would curb access to California markets if producers don’t align with its single-use plastic recycling preferences.

Seventeen states and the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors argue in a complaint that California’s Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act reflects the state’s “bespoke environmental preferences” and is “irreconcilably at odds with those of many other states.”

The Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act requires producers to reduce and recycle single-use packaging and plastic food-service items and ensure they are recyclable or compostable by Jan. 1, 2032. The law aims to shift the burden of dealing with plastic waste from consumers to producers.

The states argue the law is overly broad because many products shipped to California contain single-use plastics. They note that some covered plastics, including polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and jars, are currently recycled at about 16% in California, while the state aims to raise that figure to 40% by 2030.

“Compliance with the act’s mandate that 100% of covered materials be recyclable will necessarily involve excluding a wide range of products from the California market entirely, and it will also necessitate dramatic and extremely expensive transformations of a wide range of products, business models, and logistics practices,” the states say.

Furthermore, the states say, California’s law “offends state sovereignty.”

“Once again, California is trying to enact a policy that negatively impacts the rest of the country,” says Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers in a statement. “If California goes unchecked, consumers will be forced to pay more for basic necessities.”

The states seek to block enforcement of the act, arguing it violates both the U.S. and California constitutions.

They bring 11 claims against Zoe Heller, director of the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, including violations of the commerce clause, import-export clause, due process clause and First Amendment.

They also name the Circular Action Alliance, a producer responsibility organization charged with implementing the law, as a co-defendant, calling it an “unaccountable private party” and a “willful participant” in the violations.

Under the act, the alliance can collect state-mandated fees from producers, including a $500 million annual “environmental mitigation surcharge” paid to California.

Some states say they would like a line item on receipts for goods affected by the act to show the impact of cost increases and motivate Californians to repeal or amend the act.

The line-item addition to a receipt is protected political speech, the states say, and the act is an impermissible content-based restriction on speech under the First Amendment and the California Constitution.

CalRecycle did not immediately respond to a request for comment.