This week, Gov. Gavin Newsom hampered the implementation of Landmark’s environmental laws, which had limited the amount of single-use plastics sold and distributed in California.
The law known as SB 54 was signed by Newsom in 2022. Since then, dozens of regulators, lawmakers, environmentalists and industry groups have worked together to write rules and regulations that will guide their implementation.
Friday – deadline for completing these rules – the newspaper told negotiators to start over.
“The governor has directed Karlekaikul to reopen these regulations to ensure that California’s bold recycling laws can achieve its goal of reducing plastic pollution, ensuring that they are implemented fairly.”
However, some environmentalists and lawmakers were furious when they moved.
In a statement, representatives from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Ocean Conservancy and Oceana said Newsom’s decision “puts the benefits of the plastics and fossil fuel industry more than the wallets and welfare of Californians and the environment.”
They cited his previous enthusiasm for his laws. His office is “the most important overhaul of California’s plastics and packaging recycling policy in history.”
“The only thing that has changed since these regulations were finalised six months ago is that Gavin Newsom is currently running for president,” said the disgruntled environmentalist who has been working on the regulations since 2022.
SB 54 has requested that plastics and packaging companies reduce the set of used plastic packaging by 25%, ensure that 65% of its materials are recyclable, and 100% ensure 100% by 2032. The law required that the end-life costs of the product be borne (whether to use it through the presence of recycling, composting, land transport, exports).
According to it, 2.9 million tons of one-legged plastic and 171.4 billion disposable plastic ingredients were sold and offered for sale, and distributed in California in 2023.
Disposable plastics and plastic waste are more widely considered and have been seen as environmental growth in recent decades, with accumulation being overwhelmed, tired of marine life and threatened.
Newsom spokesman Villaseñor cited the cost of the program as a deterrent.
When the law was enacted, it would cost the state $36 billion, indicating that each household in California would cost around $300. However, the analysis stated that these costs “are likely to be reduced by an estimated increase in personal income worth $19.2 billion, combined with an additional health and environmental benefit totaling $40.3 billion.”
In fact, the analysis suggests that most Californians are likely to see an increase in personal income as a result of the law.
“The law has always been about affordability,” said state Sen. Ben Allen (D. Santa Monica), architect of SB 54.
But others, including Nick Lapis, a Californian advocacy superintendent for waste, wondered if it was time to bring the issue back to voters.
In 2022, industry representatives and lawmakers will end most disposable packaging and food products in the state after they promised to write laws that do essentially the same thing via SB 54.
Repealing the voting measures was then considered a mistake by several environmentalists who foresaw the industry’s delay, derailment, or killing.
“It’s enough to say we don’t have the confidence that the industry tends to deceive the public for a long time about the impact of products on our communities. Our planet will voluntarily assume the lead role in its own end mise,” the coalition of environmentalists wrote the removal of voting initiatives that favor the law.
In the law, members of the Circulating Action Alliance (a coalition formed to represent the plastics and packaging industry) began complaining about Newsom’s regulations.
Of the industry coalition, until March 2024, he was director of the California Department of Recycling and Recovery, or Cal Recycle.
Newsom appointed Wagoner to the position of Calrecycle in 2020, but it was under her leadership that most of the regulations in the law were written and agreed to.
Larine Urbina, a spokesman for the Circular Action Alliance, said in a statement that her organization “assessing SB 54’s commitment to effective and efficient implementation,” and that the alliance’s goal is to “ensure that the law meets its important ambitions and helps create a circular economy.”
As lawmakers and environmentalists are currently scrambling to pick up parts of SB 54, they pointed out that the bill has been signed to the law and therefore to the land law.
“The governor and lawmakers must continue to insist that the legislative goals and timelines are met,” wrote representatives from Oceana, Ocean Conservancy and Monterey Bay aquariums.
State Sen. Allen agreed with the sentiment.
“We hope that the administration and agencies will be able to move this impasse quickly and we will announce revised regulations that will get us back on track for the rapid implementation of the law,” he said. “If that happens, it will be a victory for both our environment and our fee payer.”
