On November 4th, a new initiative deemed the “California Recycling and Plastic Pollution Reduction Act of 2020 was filed with the Attorney General’s office for the November 2020 ballot. Among other requirements, the proposed measure sets a 2030 deadline for all packaging to be recyclable, reusable or compostable and provides vast authority to California’s Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) to implement the target. Notably, the initiative language submitted is similar to packaging/recycling legislation that failed to advance this last legislative session –– SB 54 (Allen) and AB 1080 (Gonzalez).
The initiative also seeks to impose a California Plastic Pollution Reduction Fee to tax plastic packaging and products at up to 1 cent per item. The revenue generated, which is estimated at more than $1 billion per year, would go towards the California Plastic Pollution Reduction Fund used for recycling infrastructure and environmental restoration.
The Attorney General’s office has until January 8, 2020 to provide the title and summary. Thereafter, the measure is cleared for signature-gathering. The proponents will need to obtain about 624,000 valid signatures to qualify the measure, but campaigns typically collect 40 percent more than that in order to ensure sufficient valid ones and a margin of error. This will be a costly undertaking and estimates suggest it would take $10 million to qualify the measure. However, it should be noted, that prior to appearing on the ballot, the proposed initiative could also nudge the policymakers to address the issue legislatively. Stay tuned…
For initiative language, please click here.
Recent Comments