Litigation | CA
On June 2, 2026 Oceana, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Californians Against Waste Foundation filed suit against CalRecycle in San Francisco Superior Court, captioned Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, challenging the SB 54 final regulations that took effect May 1, 2026. The petition is verified, which means CalRecycle must answer allegation by allegation rather than by general denial; the case number is not publicly confirmed. The petitioners allege the regulations create unauthorized carveouts that exclude large categories of plastic packaging, allow producers to claim indefinite exemptions, and let permitted technologies that generate hazardous waste count as recycling, undermining the law's source-reduction and recycling mandates. This is a challenge from the environmental side, distinct from the June 22, 2026 challenge brought by 17 state attorneys general and NAW; SB 54 now faces challenges from both directions. Source: Resource Recycling (June 5, 2026); Oceana; NRDC; National Law Review (June 2026).
Enforcement | OR
On April 9, 2026 Oregon DEQ released its inaugural quarterly producer status list under the Recycling Modernization Act, flagging 304 producers for failing to register, report, and/or pay required fees. (Corrected October 12, 2026.) Each producer was first contacted by the Circular Action Alliance and given 90 days to respond; nonresponders then received a formal DEQ notice and an additional 30-day cure window before being listed. Penalties can reach $25,000 per day, and the Oregon Department of Justice may seek to bar the sale of noncompliant products in the state. The February 6, 2026 NAW preliminary injunction shields only NAW members as of that date; all other producers remain fully subject to enforcement. Source: Resource Recycling (April 21, 2026); Troutman Pepper Locke (April 2026); Oregon DEQ. Correction, October 1, 2026: the April 9 list names 304 producers, not roughly 250. DEQ’s second list, dated September 4, 2026, names 198. Update, October 7, 2026: the court ruled for the DEQ Director on August 27, 2026, holding that the Recycling Modernization Act does not violate the dormant Commerce Clause or the Due Process Clause (ECF 205), and entered judgment for the Director on August 28, 2026 (ECF 206). NAW appealed to the Ninth Circuit on September 24, 2026 (No. 26-6404). The ruling removed the basis on which the February 6, 2026 preliminary injunction was granted, though ECF 205 mentions the injunction only in its procedural history, ECF 206 does not mention it, and no order has expressly lifted it, although a preliminary injunction ordinarily does not survive a final judgment against the party that obtained it. (Corrected October 12, 2026.)