A law passed in 2022 required producers of plastic foam foodware to demonstrate a 25% recycling rate to continue using the material by 2025. Since that target was not met, CalRecycle says these producers are now prohibited from selling or distributing it.
Anja Brandon, director of plastics policy at the environmental nonprofit Ocean Conservancy, said she viewed the 25% recycling rate requirement as basically a “de facto ban” on plastic foam foodware due to how difficult it is to recycle the material.
Her organization supported the law’s passage.
“This material is not readily recyclable in the vast majority of curbside recycling programs and even where it's collected … it's still really challenging to recycle,” Brandon said. “So, it's not surprising that the industry wasn't able to meet that particular threshold that we set in the law.”
Aside from that, Brandon said the material also carries harmful environmental impacts.
“It's an incredibly lightweight material that travels really far and wide if and when it escapes into the environment,” she said. “We’ve seen, time and time again, beaches and other waterways covered in what looks like snow but is actually just plastic foam.”
CalRecycle said it’s working to help producers impacted by this law come into compliance.
“CalRecycle is now identifying producers still selling and distributing expanded polystyrene food service ware and ways to help them comply with the existing law,” the agency said in a statement.