SB 54 Background
SB 54 was signed into law in 2022 to address public concern related to plastic pollution and a lack of recycling infrastructure. The law establishes an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) program intended to shift the burden of handling single use plastic waste from individual consumers and local waste services to the producers of the plastic packaging. The law establishes a 2032 deadline to accomplish three goals:
- 100% of single-use packaging and single-use plastic food service ware sold in California must be recyclable or compostable;
- 65% of single-use plastic packaging and single-use food service items must be recycled; and
- A 25% reduction, in the sale or distribution of single-use plastic packaging or food service ware, compared to the 2023 baseline year.
SB 54 also establishes an annual fee to be collected from impacted producers that will fund the California Plastic Pollution Mitigation Fund. To accomplish these goals, SB 54 directs CalRecycle to write and adopt permanent regulations. In August 2025, CalRecycle published their draft rules and opened 45-day comment period ending in early October 2025. In response to the feedback received during this period, CalRecycle published amended rules on January 29, 2026.
In addition to introducing significant fees and reporting requirements for producers, updates to SB 54 could require major operational changes for eligible facilities. The use of alternative materials and new equipment needed to comply with SB 54 could lead to changes in facility emissions, introduce the need for new equipment that may require permitting, and change the profile of facility waste streams.
Producer Obligations
Producers are defined in the draft rule language as “anyone who manufactures a product that uses covered materials”. Products that use covered materials are further defined as “a good that uses covered material if its packaging is covered material or if the good itself is plastic single-use food service ware”. Under SB 54, producers of residential and commercial single-use plastic packaging and plastic single-use food service ware in California are required to join a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) within 30 days of the final regulation going into effect. The PRO will be funded by its members to handle the processing and recycling of single-use plastics as well as provide $500 million per year from 2027-2032 to the State of California to fund the California Plastic Pollution Mitigation Fund. Circular Action Alliance (CAA) has been designed by CalRecycle as the state’s first PRO.
The PRO will be responsible for collecting fees from producers to fund the PRO’s operations, fund the California Plastic Pollution Mitigation fund, perform education and outreach campaigns, invest in recycling systems, and provide annual reports to CalRecycle on progress towards reaching the 2032 goals.
January 2026 Update
On January 9, 2026, CalRecycle withdrew their draft regulations and republished them with updates on January 29, 2026. Likely the most impactful change occurred to Article 2, Section 1890.2. Categorically Excluded Materials. Section 18980.2(a)(2) was updated to state that packaging or packaging components used by food or agricultural commodities are not covered under SB 54:
if it is not reasonably possible to use packaging or packaging components that comply with both the Act and mandatory regulations, rules, or guidelines issued by the United States Department of Agriculture or the United States Food and Drug Administration. A determination of exclusion pursuant to this paragraph may consider mandatory regulations, rules, or guidelines to prevent microbial contamination or to maintain safety or structural integrity…
The December 2025 text did not include “mandatory”, indicating exemptions will only be granted when they directly conflict with specific regulatory requirements. Entities that have determined their packaging and packaging materials are not covered must submit a notice to the Department detailing why their materials meet all three of the criteria for an exemption to be granted as outlined in 18980.2(a)(2)(B):
- There is no such alternative that satisfies all applicable mandatory standards for safety and structural integrity of packaging, creates no new unavoidable legal conflict with any law, and otherwise is lawful to use in California;
- It is not possible to avoid all legal conflicts by eliminating or replacing the components that cause the conflict cited in the notice; and
- It is not possible to avoid all legal conflicts by redesigning or replacing the packaging as a whole.
In summary, the new draft rule limits the ability of producers to qualify for a categorical exemption related to food or agricultural commodities. To qualify for this categorical exemption under the amended rule, producers must demonstrate they cannot comply with SB 54 due to mandatory food safety regulations, cannot eliminate or replace packing components without violating mandatory regulations, and cannot redesign or replace packaging as a whole without violating mandatory regulations.
These changes are likely to face significant pushback from producers during the abbreviated public comment period set for January 29, 2026 to February 13, 2026. These comments could lead to additional rule amendments that further delay the adoption and implementation of SB 54. It should be noted that the latest draft rules do not alter the compliance timeline of the rules, so further delays related to rule revisions would continue to compress the compliance schedule required by the law.
Regulatory Timeline
Despite delays in implementing the final rules, the statutory deadlines for SB 54 remain unchanged. The following requirements must still be met:
