SB 54 Summary

• Enacts the California Circular Economy and Plastic Pollution Reduction Act requiring producers of single-use packaging and priority single-use products made partially or entirely of plastic to source reduce packaging to the maximum extent feasible and ensure all such products manufactured on or after January 1, 2032 are recyclable or compostable.

• Establishes a 75-percent waste reduction goal by January 1, 2032 for single-use packaging and priority single-use products through source reduction, recycling, and composting, with intermediate recycling rate requirements of 30 percent by 2028 and 40 percent by 2030.

• Requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to adopt implementing regulations by January 1, 2025, establish a Circular Economy and Waste Pollution Reduction Panel, and maintain a list of noncompliant producers and packaging categories on its website.

• Creates a California circular economy regulatory fee to be collected by the Department of Tax and Fee Administration and deposited into a California Circular Economy Fund to cover reasonable regulatory costs of the program.

• Prohibits local agencies from requiring grocery stores to use specific food packaging types unless majority of residential households have access to curbside collection programs that accept that material; this prohibition expires January 1, 2032.