SACRAMENTO, CA —Today, California failed to meet a critical deadline to implement the nation’s leading plastic reduction law because Governor Gavin Newsom intervened to prevent CalRecycle from submitting finalized regulations required by Senate Bill 54. SB 54 passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Newsom in June 2022. 

In response, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Ocean Conservancy, and Oceana jointly issued the following statement:

“We are disappointed that Governor Gavin Newsom failed to implement what he calls “the most significant overhaul of California’s plastics and packaging recycling policy in history,” which puts the interests of the plastics and fossil fuel industry above the wallets and welfare of Californians and the environment. 

“When he signed Senate Bill 54 (Allen) in June 2022, Governor Newsom touted the law for going “further than any other state on cutting plastics production at the source” and said that “California won’t tolerate plastic waste that’s filling our waterways and making it harder to breathe. We’re holding polluters responsible and cutting plastics at the source.” We expect the Governor to keep this commitment.

“Industry lobbyists mounted an aggressive two-month campaign to press Newsom to shelve regulations that were developed with extensive public input over issues that are set in law such as the prohibition on harmful chemical recycling technologies and the industry-funded $5 billion plastic pollution mitigation fund. CalRecycle held dozens of public workshops and all-day meetings, and drafted three regulatory revisions responsive to nearly 5,000 comments and 450 letters. 

“SB 54 is the law in California. Legislators — led by those who actively urged the Governor to adopt the regulations — must continue to insist that the law’s goals and timelines are met using real and non-hazardous recycling and composting, while bringing financial relief to residents and businesses that have faced repeated rate hikes to pay for the ever-increasing difficulty of managing increasing waste and plastic pollution. Industry will turn their sights to the state legislature, hoping to undermine its resolve and commitment to reducing plastic and shifting the costs of packaging waste to those that create it. 

“Governor Newsom and the legislature must stand strong and confident.”

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About SB 54

California Senator Allen led years of negotiation amongst stakeholders and policymakers to develop SB 54, which holds producers accountable to meeting key packaging reduction, recycling,  composting, and reuse and refill mandates and requires them to bear the cost of their packaging decisions through their full life cycle. Ocean Conservancy, Oceana, and Monterey Bay Aquarium supported the negotiated SB 54 in lieu of a qualified initiative that would otherwise have been on the November 2022 ballot.

On June 30, 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 54, which will cut plastic packaging and foodware by 25 percent over 10 years, require all packaging in the state to be recyclable or compostable by 2032, and require 65 percent of all single-use plastic packaging and foodware to be recycled in the same timeframe. Additionally, the legislation shifts the burden from consumers and local governments to industry to pay for the full lifecycle of their materials and additionally requires plastic producers to pay $5 billion over 10 years to help address plastic pollution and support disadvantaged communities hurt most by the damaging effects of plastic.

In September, 2024 California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued ExxonMobile for alleged deceit about their role in the plastic pollution crisis, including through their use of harmful chemical recycling technologies that perpetuate the use of virgin plastic production. The Los Angeles Times reported that Eastman Chemical, one such chemical recycling company, spent nearly $200,000 in the fourth quarter of 2024 lobbying on the SB 54 regulations.

Timeline/Key Dates

• June 30, 2022: The legislature passed and Gov. Newsom signed Senate Bill 54 into law. Proponents of a qualified ballot measure withdrew it given the negotiated legislation’s enactment
• March 8, 2024: CalRecycle published the first draft of SB 54 regulations
• January 1, 2025:  Expanded polystyrene (plastic foam) packaging and food ware became illegal for anyone to continue to sell or distribute in the state
• March 7, 2025: Deadline for CalRecycle to submit a final rulemaking package to the Office of Administrative Law

ABOUT OCEAN CONSERVANCY  

Ocean Conservancy is working to protect the ocean from today’s greatest global challenges. Together with our partners, we create evidence-based solutions for a healthy ocean and the wildlife and communities that depend on it. For more information, visit oceanconservancy.org, or follow us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) or Instagram.