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CalRecycle outlines bottle bill changes, dealer cooperatives and staffing plan for textile EPR
Summary
CalRecycle told senators it has started outreach and IT changes to accommodate wine and distilled spirits in the beverage-container program and requested staffing funds to implement the new textile producer-responsibility law SB 707.
CalRecycle Director Zoe Heller told the Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on March 20 that the department has updated systems and conducted outreach to include wine, distilled spirits and large juice containers in the state—s beverage-container program, and that it is preparing implementation capacity for SB 707, the new textile producer-responsibility law.
Heller said CalRecycle has recorded 29,000,000 newly covered beverage containers since wine and spirits joined the program on Jan. 1, 2024. "A 29,000,000 has been collected since Jan 1 24 specific to the new beverage containers that are coming into the program," she told senators.
CalRecycle described ongoing steps to expand convenient redemption options: regulatory review of dealer-cooperative plans, updated IT systems to track the new container types, and a statewide education campaign. Dealer cooperatives are nonprofit plans that grocery and retail dealers may use to provide convenient community redemption through reverse-vending machines, mobile collection or coordinated drop-off points.
On textiles: Heller said CalRecycle—s 2025 budget proposal requests 27 permanent positions phased over two fiscal years and a short-term loan to stand up the Responsible Textile Recovery Act (SB 707). "Our budget change proposal on Senate Bill 707 requests 27 permanent positions to be phased in over 2 fiscal years," she told the committee.
Why it matters: The beverage-container changes alter where and how Californians can redeem containers, and SB 707 will create a new extended-producer-responsibility program requiring producer plans, needs assessments and performance standards. CalRecycle said it intends a robust informal stakeholder process before starting formal rulemaking.
Unanswered questions: Senators pressed CalRecycle for timelines on specific steps such as the department—s public notice about polystyrene (expanded polystyrene) compliance and on anticipated repayments for a prior loan from the beverage-container fund. Heller said she would return with dates and noted repayment was expected to begin later in the decade under statutory timing.
Ending: CalRecycle told the committee it will continue outreach to jurisdictions and industry and use grant funding, including recycling-innovation grants, to help stand up redemption infrastructure.
