California's groundbreaking law requiring packaging producers to phase out single-use plastics, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2022 and effective May 2024, is already facing legal challenges from both industry groups and environmentalists.
Law Requirements and Industry Opposition
The law mandates plastic and packaging companies to reduce single-use plastic, ensure all packaging is recyclable or compostable by 2032, and pay $5bn to remedy plastic pollution harms. Industry groups argue it places an undue burden and financial cost on manufacturers, especially those in other states that must comply to do business in California. On Monday, a coalition of 17 states sued to block the law.
Eric Hoplin, president and CEO of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, which joined the lawsuit, stated: "No state should limit interstate commerce, let alone delegate the power to set and collect taxes to a third party outside of the scope of public scrutiny."
Environmental Groups' Concerns
Meanwhile, environmental groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) are also challenging the law, but for different reasons. They argue that state rules allow recycling methods that create toxic waste and let some plastics slip through by changing the definition of recycling. Avinash Kar, senior director at NRDC, said: "We need to make sure the recycling that happens under it is real and not imaginary and not greenwashing."
Judith Enck, former EPA administrator and head of Beyond Plastics, noted the irony: "The industry negotiated this bill, and yet they’re trying to undercut it with this lawsuit. There’s a big difference between filing a lawsuit and winning a lawsuit."
Support for the Law
Heidi Sanborn, executive director of the National Stewardship Action Council, who negotiated part of the bill, emphasized that the law shifts responsibility from taxpayers to producers. "The question is who pays for it and whether the system is designed to deliver the greatest environmental benefit in the most cost-effective way possible," she said.
Scott Cassel, founder of the Product Stewardship Institute, noted that similar extended producer responsibility laws work globally. "Filing lawsuits is not the answer. It is a waste of everyone’s time and money."
Legal and Environmental Context
Only 5-6% of plastic is ever recycled, and experts doubt this rate will change due to low virgin plastic costs and reduced markets for recycled plastic. Kar added: "This is part of the industry’s pattern of delay, delay, delay." He cited previous failed industry challenges to restrictions on PFAS in Minnesota on commerce clause grounds.
The lawsuits highlight deep divisions over how to tackle plastic pollution, with Kar concluding: "People are concerned about microplastics – it’s been found in all of us and is being associated with health impacts."
