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Identical bills, SB-1035 and AB-2236, that would only allow stores to provide 100% recycled paper bags or reusable grocery bags not made from plastic film material beginning in 2026, were introduced in the California Senate and Assembly on February 8, 2024. Current law prohibits stores from providing most single-use carryout bags.

On December 30, 2023, the Canadian Government published a notice in the Canada Gazette announcing its intent to establish federal plastics registration and reporting requirements under section 46(1) of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). The reporting requirements would apply to calendar years 2024, 2025, and 2026.

The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) announced that the

On November 22, 2023, the European Parliament adopted a revised version of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) with 426 members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voting in favor, 125 against, and 74 abstaining. (See the Packaginglaw.com article, EU Proposal for a Regulation on Packaging and Packaging Waste – the Highlights, for background information on the regulation.)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced several proposed changes to its Safer Choice Standard. Among the proposed changes are provisions to strengthen sustainable packaging requirements that the Agency explained were made in “response to consumer demand and innovations in packaging materials and technologies.” The proposed changes concerning primary packaging are listed below.

A Canadian federal judge ruled that the inclusion of all plastic manufactured items (PMI) as “toxic substances” under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) is both “unreasonable and unconstitutional.” The challenge, considered by the Court, was brought by a coalition of plastics companies in Responsible Plastic Use Coalition v. The Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, 2023 FC 1511, Docket: T-824-21.

On October 25th, the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act was reintroduced in both the Senate and the House of Representatives (H.R.6053 and S.3127). If enacted, the bill would create an extended producer responsibility (EPR) policy and establish source reduction targets for single-use plastic products and beverage containers.

On July 25, 2023, the United Kingdom’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) announced that implementation of a new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system for packaging will be delayed one year until October 2025. The EPR system would apply to all UK organizations that import or supply packaging and would place the financial cost of managing products once they reach end of life on these business operators.