AB 2253, Assembly Member Boerner’s recycled content claims bill, was
read a third time and passed by the Senate on August 28, 2026, by 27 ayes to 10 noes, and the
Assembly concurred in the Senate amendments on August 30, 2026. The bill is now at Engrossing and Enrolling, the step before it goes to the Governor. It is not enrolled and it is not signed.
The operative text is the
August 21, 2026 Senate floor amendment, read in its official strikeout form. It amends, repeals and adds Section 42357.6 of the Public Resources Code. A recycled content claim must be based on actual recycled content determined using any of five chain of custody models named in the bill: identity-preserved, segregated, controlled blending, and rolling average percentage as described in ISO 22095:2020(E), or proportional attribution as defined in ISO 22095-2:2026. Two limits ride on the last of these: no recycling credits may be provided to any form of fuel use or fuel production, and there may be no credit transfers between unrelated processes. The claim may not exceed the third-party certified recycled content introduced into the producer’s overall supply stream for that product line, and it must conform to the FTC Green Guides at 16 C.F.R. Part 260 as they read on January 1, 2026. The August 21 amendment also broadened the deemed-compliance route, which had reached only plastic beverage containers subject to Section 14549.3 and now reaches any product meeting those reporting requirements.
What this means for you: nothing today, and nothing for three years. The substantive duties are operative
January 1, 2030. If you make a voluntary recycled content claim on a label in California, this is the rule you will eventually be substantiating it against, and the practical answer is that credit-based accounting is permitted under a named ISO method rather than banned. Watch for the Governor’s signature or veto. Source:
California Legislature, AB 2253 bill history (read August 30, 2026).