Environmental Leaders Condemn Plastics Industry Betrayal of Compromise in California and the State’s Failure to Implement SB 54

Yesterday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom effectively blocked the implementation of SB 54, a major environmental law aimed at reducing single-use plastics in California. Despite more than two years of collaboration on regulations, he ordered a restart just as the deadline arrived.

Surfrider's Plastic Pollution Initiative Senior Manager Miho Ligare participated in developing the regulations and had this to say:

“Surfrider Foundation is extremely disappointed in today’s outcome. With countless hours spent developing and refining the draft SB 54 regulations, a thorough process with ample public engagement opportunities was conducted. This is another unfortunate example of industry undermining public processes to disrupt and maintain the status quo and pad their bottom line. We’re drowning in plastic pollution, and as California is looked up to as a global leader in environmental conservation, the state let down our communities, especially marginalized communities who bear the brunt of cumulative pollution impacts, and our environment by intervening.”

Break Free From Plastic Pollution press release

Surfrider is a member of the Break Free From Plastic Pollution movement, which released this statement yesterday:

Sacramento, California – Today,  environmental justice and environmental sustainability organizations in the Break Free From Plastic movement condemn the State of California and Governor Gavin Newsom for failing to meet the deadline to implement landmark California legislation designed to expand plastic recycling and limit the use of single-use plastic packaging, and the plastics industry for their continuous efforts to derail the statute’s implementation.

Both the State’s and industry’s actions represent a betrayal of the compromise reached in 2022 that led advocates to withdraw a ballot initiative that the industry had strongly opposed. Instead of the ballot measure, the California State Legislature passed Senate Bill 54, an agreement that allowed the industry, rather than the government, to manage an effort to reduce plastic pollution.

Despite the clear terms of that agreement, the industry has worked to undermine SB 54 ever since its passage, all while plastic pollution has dramatically increased. Mounting scientific evidence has proven that plastic pollution is permeating our air, water, food, and virtually every part of our bodies. It is not only an environmental problem but an urgent public health threat as well.

A California state-sponsored study found that nearly three million tons of single-use plastic and more than 170 billion single-use plastic products were sold, offered for sale, or distributed in California in 2023. Californians throw away the equivalent of 290 Olympic-sized pools of plastic every day, much of which gets shipped to developing countries.  California was rated as the state with the highest waste exports, contributing 20 million kg to non-OECD countries and 51 million kg to Mexico. 

SB 54 required the industry to make investments in reuse infrastructure and reduce single-use plastic packaging by 25 percent by 2032. By then, all single-use plastic is to be recyclable or compostable. The bill also made producers – rather than consumers or local governments – responsible for managing the task of keeping single-use plastics out of the environment, a central function of extended producer responsibility

Despite their agreement to comply, industry has continuously lobbied the state to slow the adoption of the necessary implementation regulations. Today, Friday, was the deadline for submitting those rules, and instead of following SB 54, Governor Newsom, citing unreasonable burdens to industry, broke his promise to the people of California, prioritizing industry’s bottom line over Californians’ rights to a clean and healthy environment and protection by their government.

The plastics industry again proves that they cannot be trusted to live by agreements negotiated with advocates, the Legislature, and the Governor’s office. Even if new regulations are ultimately adopted, the industry has made it clear that they are simply not serious about meaningfully reducing the amount of plastic pollution that they create and from which they profit.

Advocates are committed to reevaluating all possible avenues to achieving the targets and goals in SB 54, including reviving the ballot initiative to let voters decide this issue. Public opinion polling consistently shows that California voters overwhelmingly support regulating and taxing plastic packaging. If Governor Newsom and public officials will not stand up to industry pressure, then the people will.