SB 665: Plastic waste: single-use plastics alternatives: working group.

Existing law establishes the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act, which covers certain single-use packaging and plastic single-use food service ware, as provided. As part of its comprehensive statutory scheme, the act requires the producers, as defined, of these covered materials to source reduce plastic covered material, to ensure that covered material offered for sale, distributed, or imported in or into the state on or after January 1, 2032, is recyclable or eligible to be labeled compostable, and to ensure that plastic covered material offered for sale, distributed, or imported in or into the state meets specified recycling rates.

Existing law vests the California Environmental Protection Agency with authority over various environmental matters and various state agencies, including the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), the State Water Resources Control Board, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, and the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. Existing law establishes the Ocean Protection Council to, among other things, coordinate activities of state agencies that are related to the protection and conservation of coastal waters and ocean ecosystems. Existing law requires CalRecycle to consult with the council regarding its adoption of regulations to establish a process, and develop criteria, for determining the types of food service packaging that are reusable, recyclable, or compostable. Existing law establishes the Department of Food and Agriculture to promote and protect the agricultural industry of the state.

This bill would require the California Environmental Protection Agency, by January 1, 2025, to establish a working group of the above-referenced state entities that would establish a framework, by July 1, 2026, for evaluating novel plastic and plastic-alternative material types used to produce single-use products as they are developed, in order to inform state policy decisions designed to create a more sustainable and circular economy, as provided. The bill would require the working group to, among other things, develop recommendations related to novel material types, including the appropriate marketing and labeling of the material, the handling of the material at the end of its useful life, and how the material needs to be treated in relation to existing state policies, rules, and regulations. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2029.