California’s Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Responsibility Act (“SB 54” or “the Act”) is unique in the growing extended producer responsibility (“EPR”) packaging landscape for its source reduction component for...more
Four years after the nation’s first extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws set out approaches to making producers financially responsible for managing the disposal of plastics and packaging, 2025 will see...more
Los Angeles County Counsel Dawyn Harrison sued PepsiCo and Coca-Cola on October 30, 2024, alleging responsibility for the impacts of plastic packaging littered in Los Angeles County. The next day, a New York State judge...more
Plastic packaging and food ware are some of the first targets of California’s ambitious and far-reaching program to achieve a “Circular Economy” that reduces waste and pollution. The California Department of Resources,...more
On October 14, 2024, California's Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (“CalRecycle”) released its proposed final regulations for California’s extended producer responsibility (“EPR”) packaging and plastic food...more
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws represent a pivotal shift in environmental and sustainability compliance, placing the onus of end-of-life product management on Producers, the parties that produce the products...more
What Happened - On Monday, October 14, 2024, the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecyle) opened a public comment period on changes to the previously proposed regulations implementing the...more
A recent conference led by Connecticut Attorney General (AG) William Tong discussed the alleged problems and potential solutions associated with plastics use and waste. Conference attendees included nearly two dozen...more
The extended producer responsibility (“EPR”) programs for packaging that are currently unfolding in several states impose two primary obligations on producers of covered materials—reporting data and paying fees to a producer...more
On July 1, 2024, CalRecycle published an updated list of covered material categories as required by California’s extended producer responsibility (EPR) law. SB 54 was signed into law by Governor Newsom in June 2022 and...more
Retailers with private label products, restaurants and consumer product manufacturers should consider whether they are subject to state extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws, and therefore should register with the...more
On March 31, Circular Action Alliance (“CAA”), the Producer Responsibility Organization (“PRO”) for California, Colorado, and the only contender for PRO in Oregon, submitted the first draft of its Program Plan (“the Plan”)...more
Recently, the Parliament and the Council, under the leadership of the Belgian Council Presidency, have been able to reach a provisional agreement on a final text for a new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation within a...more
Tomorrow, February 1, the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) will host a hybrid question and answer session to discuss the draft rulemaking on their extended producer responsibility (EPR)...more
At the end of 2023, the EU Parliament and the EU Council each adopted their positions on the EU Commission's proposal for a new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation. The Commission's proposal had already given rise to a...more
Since July 2021, when Maine passed the nation's first extended producer responsiblity ("EPR") packaging law, four other states (Colorado, Oregon, California, and Maryland) have enacted EPR packaging laws. For brevity, we...more
New York Attorney General Letitia James (“AG”) filed a November 15th Complaint in the Supreme Court of the State of New York (County of Erie)(“Court”) against PepsiCo, Inc., Frito-Lay, Inc., and Frito-Lay North American, Inc....more
The Circular Action Alliance (“CAA”), a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is expected to be selected as California’s new producer responsibility organization (“PRO”) under the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer...more
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 54 on June 30, 2022, creating an extended producer responsibility (EPR) program and imposing some related prohibitions for certain single-use packaging and plastic single-use food service ware...more
It is probably fair to say that SB 54 – California’s extended producer responsibility (EPR) law imposing source reduction and recycling requirements on single use packaging and plastic food service ware – is not only the...more
On May 1, 2023, a ban on single-use plastics went into effect for restaurants with permanent locations in unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. The ban was originally passed in April of 2022 by the Los Angeles County...more
On April 18, 2023, the Government of Canada announced the launch of consultations under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA) with respect to...more
California’s Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act (the “Act” or “SB 54”) is a variation of the increasingly popular Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and circular economy frameworks in...more
On March 29, 2023, the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) held a workshop on Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs) and forthcoming regulations under the Plastic Pollution Prevention...more
On February 28, CalRecycle held an informational workshop for SB 54, the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act. The workshop focused on the Advisory Board and Needs Assessment components of...more