California apparel EPR bill moves forward

The California Senate has passed a negotiated version of the Responsible Textile Recovery Act of 2024 (Senate Bill 707), and the bill next heads to the California Assembly.

If signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the bill would mandate an extended producer responsibility (EPR) program for clothing, apparel or other textile articles as defined by lawmakers.

The legislation indicates California’s Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) would help establish a producer responsibility organization (PRO) and CalRecycle would be required to adopt regulations to implement the program no earlier than July 1, 2028.

The opening paragraph of the bill indicates reuse will be emphasized, stating reuse “minimizes generation of hazardous waste, generation of greenhouse gases, environmental impacts, environmental justice impacts and public health impacts.” While reuse can extend the life of a product, the bill’s authors also say apparel that ultimately is discarded will need to be recycled into secondary products.

However, the bill includes considerable text focusing on secondhand retailing and online marketplaces while only briefly mentioning reprocessing discarded items into new fabrics or materials.

Regarding materials processing, the bill states in part that “the actions and investments needed to avoid [PFAS and other chemical] contamination in the recycling process and available end markets for recycled material that cannot be remanufactured into textiles or textile articles in California” must be included in the PRO plan.

The nonprofit California Public Interest Group (Calpirg) describes the bill as one “that would tackle clothing waste by establishing a statewide clothing recycling program paid for by clothing companies.”

Calpirg estimates California throws out more than 1 million tons of clothing and other textiles annually and that California taxpayers spent more than $70 million dollars disposing of used textiles in 2021.

“Importantly, the bill shifts the costs of clothing waste management from the state to the companies, forcing them to pay for their waste," Calpirg says of the PRO and EPR components of the bill. "The resulting program is designed to help reduce the fast fashion overproduction cycle and ensure more clothing is recycled instead of landfilled.”

The bill still requires a concurrence vote in the California Assembly chamber; but, provided that occurs, it would then head to the governor’s desk.

“By making companies pay for their own waste, we can encourage them to be more conscious of their output,” Calpirg Legislative Advocate Fiona Hines says. “We are hopeful this nation-leading bill will reduce clothing waste and lead us toward a future where we produce quality clothes that we can repair and reuse longer and recycle when they reach their end of life.”