California SB 343: Requirements, Exemptions, and Enforcement

California Senate Bill 343 prohibits companies from labeling a product or its packaging as recyclable — including with the familiar chasing arrows symbol — unless the material is actually collected, sorted, and reprocessed by recycling programs across the state. Signed in 2021 and codified primarily at Public Resources Code section 42355.51, the law ties recyclability claims to hard data about what California’s infrastructure can handle. Enforcement begins October 4, 2026. An industry coalition is challenging the law in federal court, but no injunction has been issued.

What Counts as Recyclable Under SB 343

The statute sets a two-part test. A product or its packaging can carry a recyclability claim only if the material qualifies as “recyclable in the state” under statewide criteria and routinely becomes feedstock for new products or packaging.¹ If either half fails, using the chasing arrows symbol is automatically treated as a deceptive claim under both the Public Resources Code and the Business and Professions Code.²

Statewide recyclability turns on two thresholds drawn from CalRecycle data:

Collection. Recycling programs in jurisdictions covering at least 60 percent of California’s population must accept the specific material type and form.
Sorting. Large-volume transfer or processing facilities that collectively serve at least 60 percent of statewide recycling programs must sort that material into defined streams and send it to a reclaiming facility consistent with the Basel Convention.

Both thresholds apply to the specific material type and form, not the general category. One kind of plastic tray can pass while another fails.¹

The 75 Percent Alternative

A product that misses the 60 percent thresholds can still qualify if it has a demonstrated recycling rate of at least 75 percent, meaning not less than three-quarters of the material sorted and aggregated in California is actually reprocessed into new products or packaging.¹ Few materials clear that bar, but it exists so genuinely well-recycled products aren’t excluded by a gap in collection data.

Design and Composition Rules

Meeting the collection and sorting thresholds is necessary but not sufficient. A product must also pass two composition screens.

Plastic Packaging and the APR Design Guide

Plastic packaging cannot be labeled recyclable if any of its components, inks, adhesives, or labels would prevent recyclability under the APR Design® Guide published by the Association of Plastic Recyclers.¹ A PET bottle can meet every collection threshold and still fail because its label adhesive contaminates the stream. The APR guidance is updated regularly, so a one-time review isn’t enough.

PFAS Prohibition

Plastic or fiber products and packaging cannot be labeled recyclable if they contain intentionally added per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or if PFAS is present at or above 100 parts per million measured as total organic fluorine.³ These are independent triggers. A fiber food container that tests above 100 ppm loses its recyclability claim even if the PFAS wasn’t intentionally added and every other criterion is met.

What’s Exempt

Two categories fall outside SB 343’s labeling restrictions. Products that federal or California law requires to carry the chasing arrows symbol may continue using it; rechargeable batteries covered by the federal Mercury-Containing and Rechargeable Battery Management Act are the leading example. Beverage containers regulated under California’s Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act are also excluded, because they already operate inside a separate deposit-return system.²

Resin Codes on Rigid Plastics

California law requires rigid plastic bottles and containers to display a resin identification code, the number that identifies the type of plastic. Under SB 343, that number can be placed inside a chasing arrows symbol only if the rigid plastic meets the statewide recyclability criteria in section 42355.51(d).⁴ Otherwise, the code must appear inside a plain triangle. Many consumers read the triangle as a recycling symbol, and the law prevents the resin code from doing that work by default.

The Compliance Deadline

The labeling restrictions apply to products and packaging manufactured on or after October 4, 2026. That date sits 18 months after CalRecycle published its Final Findings Report on April 4, 2025.⁵

The trigger is manufacture, not sale. A product made before October 4, 2026 can still be sold after that date with its existing labeling. Anything manufactured on or after the deadline must comply.⁶ Businesses that produce well ahead of sell-through have some cushion. Those manufacturing close to the deadline do not.

One thing to know about how compliance works: CalRecycle publishes the underlying data and each manufacturer applies the criteria to its own products. The agency does not approve individual products or issue recyclability determinations.⁵ Companies waiting for a green light from the state will not get one.

Who Enforces the Law and What the Penalties Are

CalRecycle has no enforcement authority over labeling violations. Enforcement runs through the Attorney General, district attorneys, and city attorneys.⁶

Public Resources Code section 42358 sets escalating civil penalties:

First violation: up to $500
Second violation: up to $1,000
Third and subsequent violations: up to $2,000 each

Money collected goes to the office that brought the action.⁷

Separately, a misleading environmental marketing claim can be charged as a misdemeanor under Business and Professions Code section 17581, carrying a fine of up to $2,500, up to six months in county jail, or both.⁸ These remedies aren’t exclusive. Section 42358 preserves additional remedies available under the Unfair Competition Law.⁷

Private Lawsuit Exposure

SB 343 does not include a private right of action, so consumers cannot sue directly under the statute. That protection is thinner than it looks. A labeling violation can be the predicate for claims under California’s Unfair Competition Law and False Advertising Law, both of which allow private suits. Plaintiffs’ attorneys have already used CalRecycle’s material characterization data as the basis for class actions targeting products whose recyclability claims appear inconsistent with the data, and those cases have been filed before the October 2026 enforcement date.

The usual FTC Green Guides defense, which lets a company argue its environmental marketing conforms to federal guidance, does not apply to violations of SB 343 or the resin identification code rules in section 18015.⁹ Following federal guidelines will not close out California liability. The FTC Green Guides themselves have not been updated since 2012, and any federal harmonization remains at the proposal stage.¹⁰

The Industry Lawsuit

On March 17, 2026, a coalition of 18 industry trade associations filed California League of Food Producers v. Bonta in the Southern District of California, seeking both a preliminary injunction against enforcement before October 2026 and a permanent injunction blocking the law on constitutional grounds.¹¹

As of March 2026 the litigation is ongoing and no injunction has been granted. Any relief would likely apply only to the parties in the case, so companies outside the plaintiff coalition face full enforcement risk after October 4, 2026 whatever the outcome. Planning to comply by the deadline is the safer path.

1
California Legislative Information. California Public Resources Code PRC 42355.51
2
California Legislative Information. California Business and Professions Code 17580 – Environmental Representations
3
California Legislative Information. California Public Resources Code PRC 42355.51
4
California Legislative Information. California Public Resources Code PRC 18015
5
CalRecycle. Accurate Recycling Labels
6
CalRecycle. SB 343 Frequently Asked Questions
7
California Legislative Information. California Public Resources Code PRC 42358
8
Justia. California Business and Professions Code 17580-17581 – Environmental Representations
9
California Legislative Information. California Business and Professions Code 17580.5
10
Sustainable Packaging Coalition. Packaging Policy Roundup
11
DLA Piper. Trade Groups Challenge California’s Truth in Recycling Law