Packaging EPR Update: Week of July 13, 2026

Litigation  |  CA

On July 14, 2026 Judge William Q. Hayes of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California granted a preliminary injunction in California League of Food Producers v. Bonta (Case No. 3:26-cv-01675), barring Attorney General Rob Bonta from enforcing SB 343, the state's "Truth in Recycling" law, until further order of the court. The court found four provisions unconstitutionally vague under the Fourteenth Amendment and held the law fails First Amendment scrutiny under the Central Hudson test, concluding the state did not show the restrictions would directly advance its interest in reducing consumer confusion. The four vague provisions were severed, so the law's core 60 percent collection-and-sorting threshold survives on paper, but enforcement is now paused less than three months before the October 4, 2026 compliance deadline. The suit was brought by a coalition of 21 food, packaging, and retail trade associations (18 at filing on March 17, 2026, later amended to 21). The ruling is preliminary, not a final judgment; litigation continues before Judge Hayes and an appeal to the Ninth Circuit is expected. Because SB 54 relies on SB 343's recyclability criteria to determine which materials qualify as recyclable in California, the decision carries implications for the broader packaging EPR program. Source: Resource Recycling (July 15, 2026); Packaging Dive (July 15, 2026).

Litigation  |  OR

On June 25, 2026 Lollicup USA, a subsidiary of publicly traded Karat Packaging, filed a putative class action against Oregon DEQ Director Leah Feldon in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, seeking to represent producers not covered by the February 6, 2026 NAW preliminary injunction. The complaint pleads only the dormant Commerce Clause and Fourteenth Amendment due process theories the court credited in NAW v. Feldon. The program remains in effect; non-NAW producers remain fully subject to Oregon DEQ enforcement unless and until a class is certified and relief is granted. This suit is separate from the NAW v. Feldon bench trial, which was held July 13-17, 2026; a ruling in that case is expected by the end of August 2026. Source: Packaging Dive (June 27, 2026); Plastics News; National Law Review; Arnold and Porter (June 2026).

Legislative  |  CA

On July 1, 2026 the California Senate Environmental Quality Committee passed AB 2253 (Boerner) on a 4-2 vote and re-referred it to Senate Appropriations, where a hearing is set for August 3, 2026. The bill amends Public Resources Code 42357.6 to require recycled-content claims to reflect actual physical recycled content, prohibiting mass balance accounting and constraining chemical-recycling-based PCR compliance under SB 54. Source: California Legislature (leginfo, AB 2253 bill history, July 2026).

Legislative  |  CA

On July 6, 2026 a coalition of California agricultural groups sent a letter to Governor Newsom and legislative leaders urging repeal and replacement of SB 54, citing an economic analysis projecting added household grocery costs as the first producer fees arrive. This is advocacy only; no repeal bill has been introduced, and full SB 54 implementation remains set for January 1, 2027. Source: Resource Recycling (July 7, 2026).

Site Update

A new Design for Recyclability tab explains how design decisions become recyclability determinations that set your eco-modulation fee, material by material: plastics, glass, paper and fiber, metal, decoration, on-pack claims under California SB 343, How2Recycle labeling, and the California CMC list. Because each material is recycled through a different system, each has its own governing design rule, so the tab treats them separately. To model the fee impact of a specific design change, it links to the Unit EPR Fee Calculator; the Design for Recyclability Rater scores a package against these rules. Source: EPRAtlas.com.

Site Update

A new Resources tab gathers the primary sources and further reading behind EPR Atlas in one place: the program administrator (CAA) and state agencies, non-profits and industry groups (including How2Recycle), law-firm trackers, trade press, and EPR compliance software. Source: EPRAtlas.com.