Recycled-Content Trash Bag Program

The California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) monitors the provisions of the Public Resources Code with respect to plastic trash bag mandates. Manufacturers and wholesalers selling trash bags in California must meet the mandates and be certified annually by CIWMB before State of California agencies and departments can purchase from them.

• Requirements
• Assistance for Manufacturers
• Compliant and Noncompliant Companies

Requirements

Plastic Trash Bag Manufacturers
Plastic trash bag manufacturers selling trash bags in California are required to meet either one of the following:

• Plastic trash bags contain a quantity of recycled plastic postconsumer material (RPPCM) equal to at least 10 percent of the weight of the regulated bags.
• At least 30 percent of the weight of material used in all of its plastic products is RPPCM.

Wholesalers
Wholesalers are required to certify the names of trash bag manufacturers from which they purchased plastic trash bags.

Forms

• Manufacturer Certification (CIWMB 57): Excel, 105 KB | Adobe PDF, 31 KB
• Wholesaler Certification (CIWMB 58): Excel, 30 KB | Adobe PDF, 20 KB

Assistance for Manufacturers

The following is excerpted from the regulations pertaining to this program, Chapter 4. Resource Conservation Programs, Article 5. Recycled Content Trash Bag Program, which can be viewed in their entirety on our site.

Suppliers of RPPCM, updated December 2006 (Adobe PDF, 35 KB | Excel, 48 KB)
Following receipt of the information from the Board, manufacturers are required to make a good-faith effort to purchase RPPCM to meet the use requirement from each supplier on the Board-provided list. A good-faith effort must be made with each supplier on the Board's list, in addition to those suppliers that manufacturers have done business with or are otherwise aware of prior to making the certification in Section 17981.

Compliant and Noncompliant Companies

Plastic trash bag manufacturers that did not meet the minimum RPPCM content requirement and companies that did not submit certifications to the Board are noncompliant. Our database may not have captured all manufacturers or wholesalers that are required by law to submit certifications to the Board. Therefore, if a trash bag manufacturer or a wholesaler, (defined as any company that purchased trash bags from a manufacturer for resale) that sold regulated bags in California during the reporting period is not on the compliant list, then that company should be considered noncompliant for not submitting the required certification.

The summary list of compliance is based on certifications received by the CIWMB for the 2006 reporting period. If your company is listed as failing to certify and you are not a trash bag manufacturer or wholesaler, please let us know so that we can remove you from our database. Contact information is below.

Last updated: April 03, 2008