NSAC Statement on SB 54 Regulatory Process

The National Stewardship Action Council (NSAC) has been at the forefront of SB 54 negotiations, passage, and now rulemaking and implementation. Throughout the regulations process, our focus has been on identifying real-world implementation challenges and ensuring the law delivers on its intended public health, environmental, social, and economic benefits.

NSAC commends CalRecycle and the Office of Administrative Law for hearing the concerns we raised through public comment periods about the categorical exclusion language and how unfair it was to businesses and undermined the intent and integrity of the law that was so thoughtfully negotiated.

NSAC raised early concerns about ambiguity surrounding categorical exceptions for food and agricultural packaging, and members of our National Packaging and EPR Implementation Working Group were among the first to highlight this issue and continued to raise it through individual comment letters and testimony. The concerns NSAC raised reflect the practical realities of aligning food safety requirements and packaging design within a producer responsibility framework.

As we review the latest amendments to the regulations, we have concerns on the compressed timelines, some ambiguous language, practical implementation issues, and the large, possibly inequitable compliance burden on industry.

We encourage anyone interested in joining our National Packaging and EPR Implementation Working Group, which brings together local governments, NGOs, waste haulers, producers, packaging suppliers, and experts from the food safety and legal communities, to visit https://www.nsaction.us/working-groups. The working group’s goal is to convene diverse interest holders to share and synthesize information, ensure a clearer understanding of the regulatory process to allow for well-informed input as implementation moves forward.

NSAC will continue to convene and help everyone navigate the situation as the process intensifies, but comments made by individual group members are their own. 

NSAC will be providing more focused comments after a more thoughtful review next week.

About the National Stewardship Action Council

The National Stewardship Action Council (NSAC) is a 501(c)(4) national nonprofit organization driving policy solutions for a circular economy.     

For over a decade, NSAC has advanced landmark policies that unlock the economic and environmental value of waste as a resource. Working alongside nearly 50 member organizations and a nationwide network of 2,700+ individuals, NSAC convenes  national working groups covering packaging, household hazardous waste, recycling refunds, textiles, and illegal single-use print cartridges. These groups unite governments, businesses, nonprofits, and communities to design and implement effective stewardship systems across the United States.