{"id":12292,"date":"2026-06-10T10:23:41","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T07:23:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/california-three-packaging-bills-advance\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T10:26:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T07:26:39","slug":"california-three-packaging-bills-advance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/california-three-packaging-bills-advance\/","title":{"rendered":"Recycled Content and Compostable Claims Challenged as California Bills Advance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Three packaging-related bills passed a significant milestone in California at the end of May 2026. AB 2253, AB 1812 and SB 1031 each cleared their respective chambers and now move forward for further consideration ahead of the August 31 close.<\/p><div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 ez-toc-wrap-center counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title ez-toc-toggle\" style=\"cursor:pointer\">TABLE OF CONTENTS<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/california-three-packaging-bills-advance\/#AB_2253_Closing_the_Door_on_Mass_Balance_for_Recycled_Content_Claims\" >AB 2253: Closing the Door on Mass Balance for Recycled Content Claims<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/california-three-packaging-bills-advance\/#AB_1812_Restricting_Plastic_Compostable_Labelling\" >AB 1812: Restricting Plastic Compostable Labelling<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/california-three-packaging-bills-advance\/#SB_1031_Tightening_Compostable_Labelling_Standards\" >SB 1031: Tightening Compostable Labelling Standards<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/california-three-packaging-bills-advance\/#Conclusion\" >Conclusion<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The bills target two separate but related issues: the accuracy of recycled content claims on packaging and the labelling of compostable products. Together, they signal a tightening of California&#8217;s approach to environmental marketing claims at a moment when the state is already managing the rollout of its extended producer responsibility law, SB 54.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"AB_2253_Closing_the_Door_on_Mass_Balance_for_Recycled_Content_Claims\"><\/span><strong>AB 2253: Closing the Door on Mass Balance for Recycled Content Claims<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/leginfo.legislature.ca.gov\/faces\/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB2253\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">AB 2253<\/a>, known as the Protecting Consumers Against Greenwashing Act, passed the California Assembly and was ordered to the Senate. This bill would require companies making recycled content claims on packaging to back those claims with documentation confirming that the recycled material is physically present in the product, not merely credited through an accounting system.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The bill effectively rejects mass balance, a chain-of-custody approach that allows certified recycled content to be allocated across a production system without requiring physical separation. Under mass balance, a factory using a mixture of virgin and recycled feedstock can allocate the recycled fraction to particular products even if those products contain no actual recycled material. The method is already used in the chemical recycling sector and has been proposed as a compliance route under California&#8217;s SB 54.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">California law already applies a physical content standard to plastic food containers. AB 2253 would extend that requirement across packaging categories more broadly. The bill attracted opposition from industry groups including the American Chemistry Council, but had the support of Californians Against Waste and other environmental organizations.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"AB_1812_Restricting_Plastic_Compostable_Labelling\"><\/span><strong>AB 1812: Restricting Plastic Compostable Labelling<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/leginfo.legislature.ca.gov\/faces\/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1812\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">AB 1812<\/a> would prohibit the sale of products labelled &#8220;compostable&#8221; or &#8220;home compostable&#8221; that are made entirely or partially of plastic, effective 2027. The bill&#8217;s proponents argue that compostable biopolymers contaminate finished compost and create barriers to organic agriculture markets, particularly given that the US National Organic Standards Board voted in January 2026 against allowing broad classes of synthetic compostable materials as compost inputs.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The bill is also the second legislative challenge in recent sessions to SB 1046, California&#8217;s 2025 law requiring pre-checkout bags at food retailers to be reusable, recycled paper or certified compostable. Opponents of AB 1812 argue that restricting compostable plastics without replacing the tools they provide would undermine California&#8217;s SB 1383 organics separation mandate, which relies on compostable liners for food scrap collection at the household level.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Compostable Action Working group previously called for tailored exemptions for specific applications such as food scrap bin liners, compostable coatings for paper foodservice ware, coffee pods and produce stickers, rather than a blanket prohibition.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-12287\" src=\"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Article-2.1-1024x768.png\" alt=\"Close-up of a &quot;100% Recycled&quot; label printed on cardboard packaging with a US flag icon, illustrating California's packaging bills targeting recycled content and compostable labelling claims.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Article-2.1-1024x768.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Article-2.1-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Article-2.1-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Article-2.1.png 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"SB_1031_Tightening_Compostable_Labelling_Standards\"><\/span><strong>SB 1031: Tightening Compostable Labelling Standards<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/leginfo.legislature.ca.gov\/faces\/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB1031\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">SB 1031<\/a>, sponsored by state Senator Catherine Blakespear, takes a different approach. Rather than restricting compostable plastics outright, it seeks to tighten labelling practices to better distinguish compostable products from non-compostable alternatives. The bill was amended to remove a provision addressing &#8220;compostable except in California&#8221; labelling, a category that had appeared on some products where composting infrastructure for those materials does not exist in-state. It also calls for further study of the potential health impacts of degraded compostable plastics and related chemical additives.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">SB 1031 had the support of Californians Against Waste and the California Compost Coalition, but attracted more than a dozen listed opponents including BPI and multiple compostable packaging producers.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Conclusion\"><\/span><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The advancement of all three bills through California&#8217;s May 30 legislative deadline does not guarantee enactment. \u00a0They must still pass their respective chambers and be signed into law before the August 31 session close. However, their progress reflects a clear direction in California&#8217;s packaging policy: environmental marketing claims, whether for recycled content or compostability, are facing stricter evidentiary standards.<\/p>\n<p><em>Share this article on:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three California bills targeting recycled content claims and compostable labelling advanced past a key legislative deadline in May 2026, signalling stricter evidentiary standards for environmental marketing claims on packaging.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":12288,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[545],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-packaging-legislation-en","category-545","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12292"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12293,"href":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12292\/revisions\/12293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}