Governor Newsom misses deadline on landmark legislation, raising concerns about California’s plastic pollution commitments

On Friday, California Governor Gavin Newsom had a deadline to act on SB 54, but instead stymied it and told regulators to start over. SB 54 is a landmark law that would ban foam packaging, limit the amount of single-use plastics sold and distributed in the state, require more recyclable and compostable products, require polluters to pay for waste treatment, and help support transition to reuse. Gov. Newsom signed the law in 2022. The Los Angeles Times reported last month that concerns about the governor’s commitment to the regulation began in December when the Circular Action Alliance, an industry coalition which includes Amazon, Coca Cola and Target, worked to undermine the regulation. 

In California — the world’s fifth largest economy — nearly 3 million tons of single-use plastic and more than 170 billion single-use plastic products were sold, offered for sale, or distributed in 2023. Californians throw away the equivalent of 290 Olympic-sized pools of plastic every day, much of which gets shipped to developing countries. Waste from other parts of the country is also sent to California, which is then exported to the Global South including Mexico, Vietnam and Malaysia.

Plastic pollution isn’t just an environmental crisis — it’s a public health threat. Recent studies have found that microplastics are now in our air, food, water and even human bloodstreams. These tiny plastic particles, shed from the same single-use plastics SB 54 aims to reduce, have been detected in lungs, placentas and breast milk, raising urgent concerns about long-term health impacts. Without bold action, microplastic exposure will only continue to rise affecting all California communities. SB 54 is a step in the right direction to take tangible action on plastic, protect our health, stem the flow of problematic waste trade and ease the economic burden of waste management put on Californians. Other states across the country including Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and Maine, and Minnesota have passed laws seeking to both curb plastic and put the responsibility of excess packaging on producers rather than consumers. This comes at a time where public polling shows that a majority of Americans across the political spectrum are concerned about plastic pollution.

In passing SB 54, California positioned itself as an environmental leader taking much needed action on plastic pollution. Yet now, Gov. Newsom is reversing direction on the law he signed, bending to big money and corporate interests, and sending a chilling wave over efforts to tackle the mounting plastic crisis. Our state’s leadership is particularly important at a moment when the  U.S. administration is moving the country the wrong way on plastic pollution and continuing our dependence on fossil fuels. 

And, with the final round of the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations coming soon, this is a critical moment not just for national but also global leadership. Ultimately, Gov. Newsom is prioritizing profit by plastic corporations at a moment when what people and the planet really need is leadership, energy and courage to end plastic pollution.