WHAT THE BILL WOULD DO 

AB 792 by San Francisco Democratic Assemblyman Phil Ting requires manufacturers to make plastic beverage bottles with increasing amounts of recycled plastic, reaching an average of 50% by 2030. 

WHO SUPPORTS IT? 

Environmental groups, and a few recycling companies, and CarbonLite Industries, a processor of post-consumer beverage bottles, have all supported the bill. The penalties, however, became less aggressive as the bill moved through the Legislature. While the bill ultimately didn’t lose support from the advocacy group Californians Against Waste, the organization’s executive director Mark Murray was disappointed by the changes. 

WHO’S OPPOSED?

Initially, the beverage industry, but they backed off once penalties were weakened. Nestle Waters North America dropped its opposition and became a supporter. And the American Beverage Association, a heavy hitter, shifted from oppose to neutral. 

WHY IT MATTERS 

As tiny plastics fragments rain down in the Rocky Mountains and drift through the depths of Monterey Bay, recyclers across California are struggling to cope with turmoil in their markets. Ting’s bill — the only one of three major single-use plastic bills to pass this year — aims to stem that flow of new, disposable plastic bottles. 

GOVERNOR’S CALL  

On World Oceans Day in June, Newsom posted on Facebook that plastic pollution is “hurting our ecosystems and our planet for generations to come.” But he vetoed this bill on Oct. 12, 2019, citing burdensome late amendments that would have forced the state to show manufacturers that their products could meet recycling goals.