Riverside, CA Single-Use Items: Polystyrene Foam Rules (2026)

(a) This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act. (b) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: [...] (3) (A) In 2021, only 5 percent of postconsumer plastic waste in the United States was recycled, down from a high of 9.5 percent in 2014, when the United States exported millions of tons of plastic waste to China. Even then, much of this material was incinerated or dumped into the environment and not recycled. (B) It is the intent of the Legislature to establish a producer responsibility program designed to ensure that producers of single-use packaging and food service ware covered by this program take responsibility for the costs associated with the end-of-life management of that material and ensure that the material is recyclable or compostable. This standardization will reduce consumer confusion regarding recycling and composting, reduce costs to ratepayers, and increase system efficiency. [...] (4) Recycling can be an effective way to reclaim some natural resources, such as metals, glass, paper, and some plastic resins. However, in some circumstances, recycling is cost-prohibitive and an ineffective means to handle the end-of-life management of a covered material. In these circumstances, the Legislature acknowledges that some material types cannot effectively meet the requirements of this chapter and producers will be required to eliminate, redesign, or shift packaging or food service ware to a covered material category that can more efficiently meet the requirements of this chapter.