California moves forward with SB 54 implementation as it prepares new regulatory process

Despite adjustments to the SB 54 regulatory process, California continues to work on various aspects of its statewide Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) program for packaging.

Last week, CalRecycle’s SB 54 advisory committee resumed its meetings following an order from Governor Gavin Newsom, who urged the agency to do so after regulatory plans were not ready by the March 8 deadline. Although a new timeline for reestablishing the regulatory process has not yet been defined, agency officials have assured that they are prepared to move forward with next steps.
According to an official statement, Governor Newsom stressed that the resumption of the regulatory process should focus on minimizing costs to small businesses and working families.

Marcus Santillano, CalRecycle’s EPR program manager, noted that one of the priorities in the new version of the regulatory document will be to address concerns about program costs. “We’re not starting from scratch. We have a solid draft to go forward with this regulatory phase,”he said during the meeting.

CalRecycle will soon file a revised version of the regulatory documents with the state’s Office of Administrative Law, which will begin a new phase of the regulatory process. This will include a 45-day public comment period, after which the final documents will be sent back to the OAL for evaluation, after incorporating appropriate comments and adjustments.

While some sectors of the industry have supported the governor’s decision, seeing it as an opportunity to design more appropriate regulations for companies, packaging manufacturers and recyclers, others believe that the restart could weaken the previous public consultation process and unduly favor commercial interests.

During the advisory committee meeting, Chairman Timothy Burroughs acknowledged the complexity of the process. “We didn’t expect to get back to this point…It’s always been a challenge to reach consensus on regulations”he commented. Despite these changes, Santillano reiterated that the work is still ongoing and that the legal deadlines established in the law, such as recycling and waste reduction goals, remain intact. “The dates established in the legislation have not changed, and we continue to move forward with the scheduled tasks”, he emphasized.

One of CalRecycle’s commitments is to complete the statewide needs assessment, a requirement stipulated in SB 54. The agency is moving forward with contracting with vendors who will collect the data needed for this assessment. Responses to the request for proposals (RFP) for the waste reduction contract are due by April 4, while the contract for consumer education and recycling access is due April 17.
In addition, the state is working toward a January 2026 deadline to calculate and publish recycling rates for the various materials covered by the regulations, as well as annually updating the list of regulated material categories.