California must not miss critical deadline to tackle plastic pollution

OPINION – California has long been a leader in environmental protection. From cutting tailpipe emissions, to keeping our coastline accessible to all, and incorporating environmental justice as a core principle in our laws, the state has been the benchmark to which others aspire.

Our actions to curb plastic pollution are second to none. California outlawed microplastic beads in personal care products and banned single-use plastic grocery bags. Three years ago, California enacted the most far-reaching legislation anywhere to cut plastic pollution at the source and hold producers responsible for the plastic they create. Senate Bill 54 (Allen, 2022) was a monumental bipartisan accomplishment. When he signed it into law, Gov. Gavin Newsom clearly laid out the stakes– and the significance:

“Our kids deserve a future free of plastic waste and all its dangerous impacts,” Newsom said. “No more. California won’t tolerate plastic waste that’s filling our waterways and making it harder to breathe. We’re holding polluters responsible and cutting plastics at the source.”

Every year, California communities are footing the bill for things they didn’t order, spending an estimated $428 million annually to clean up and control plastic pollution. This is in addition to the costs associated with the human health impacts of plastic pollution – costs, as well as impacts, that are borne disproportionately by communities burdened by plastic waste.

SB 54 addresses this mismatch, and takes these costs on in important ways. It’s the first law of its kind to mandate the reduction of two significant categories of single-use plastic – packaging and foodware – that are growing at a staggering pace. By CalRecycle’s first estimate, nearly 3 million tons of plastic were used in single-use packaging and foodware in California in 2023 – equivalent to the weight of nearly 20,000 blue whales.

This landmark legislation takes aim at the increasing costs Californians are paying for managing waste, by shifting many expenses to those who create them: the producers. Several peer-reviewed studies reveal that such costs are not typically passed on in the form of higher prices to consumers. With producers responsible, SB 54 motivates them to innovate packaging design, drop unnecessary items, and choose only materials that will actually be recycled or composted.

This globally significant step in the right direction could be reversed if Gov. Newsom and his administration fail to meet this week’s deadline to adopt the carefully crafted regulations that will keep the state on track to meet the law’s ambitious goals. Missing that deadline would be a big step backward.

The urgent need to act comes at a time when foundational environmental laws and science are under attack as never before. California has never backed down in its determination to build a strong economy grounded in equally strong environmental protection.

The stakes are high. Not a week passes without new scientific studies documenting the growing damage plastic waste is doing to our health and our planet. Microplastic particles are found everywhere on Earth – in our food and drinking water, on top of the highest mountains and at the bottom of the deepest ocean trenches. They are accumulating in our brains, our lungs, in breast milk, and in our reproductive organs. Plastics are produced using a host of chemicals, many undisclosed to consumers and regulators but with potential harmful effects on human health.

Because raw plastics are made from fossil fuels, unchecked demand supports an oil and gas industry that’s driving the climate crisis. People who live near plastic production facilities – often people whose communities have no voice in decisions that affect their well-being – bear a disproportionate burden to their health from the release of toxic compounds during the manufacture of plastics and their component raw materials. All of our communities are fouled by plastic waste that contaminates our lives.

Gov. Newsom rightly hailed SB 54 as California’s most significant overhaul of plastics and packaging policy in history. California went “further than any other state on cutting plastics production at the source and (continuing) to build a circular economy that is necessary to combat climate change.”

Now is the time to reaffirm our promise: to live up to California’s track record of bold environmental action and keep California at the forefront of the fight against plastic pollution for generations to come. We urge the Newsom Administration to take the next necessary step and file the regulations on time.

Julie Packard is the Executive Director of Monterey Bay Aquarium. Wendy Schmidt is president and co-founder of Schmidt Family Foundation and Schmidt Ocean Institute.