Newsroom archive
California mandates recycled material in beverage bottles
In September 2020, California enacted the first US law requiring minimum recycled content in beverage bottles.

September 2020 changed the rules of the US market. With AB 793, California became the first state to mandate minimum post-consumer recycled content in beverage bottles, beginning at 15% in 2022 and escalating from there.
GHD shared the story the week it broke because mandates convert recycled content from a preference into a legal floor, and legal floors are what long-term supply contracts are built on.
The mandate era it opened, through to SB 54: our California analysis.
From the GHD Americas newsroom archive. Originally shared on September 1, 2020.
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