Extended Producer Responsibility Comes to California Apparel and Textile Producers

What Happened: On September 28, the Responsible Textiles Recovery Act of 2024 was signed into law which is designed to increase responsibilities of apparel and textile article producers regarding the reuse, repair, and recycling of their products.

Who Is Impacted: All producers of apparel or textile articles who sell, offer to sell, or distribute apparel into the state of California.

What Will be Required: Obligated entities will be required to join an approved producer responsibility organization (PRO), which will design a program to manage the recycling of covered textile and apparel products. This will include a plan for the collection, transportation, repair, sorting, recycling, and management of these products and a fee structure for members of the PRO.

What Should You Do: Ensure you are following updates on this law in order to swiftly comply with requirements which could take effect as early as July 2026.

On September 28, Governor Newsom signed SB707, the Responsible Textiles Recovery Act of 2024. The Act is an extended producer responsibility (EPR) law that places the burden of environmental life cycle management of the products on the producer. The foundation of the Act requires apparel producers to form and join a producer responsibility organization (PRO) and for that organization to develop a plan that implements the program. Of note, the Act also addresses perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in covered products and their impact on recycling efforts.

Summary of Key Components

Product Scope: The Responsible Textiles Recovery Act of 2024 covers apparel, defined as “clothing and accessory items intended for regular wear or formal occasions and outdoor activities,” and textile articles, defined as “an item customarily used in households or businesses that are made entirely or primarily from a natural, artificial, or synthetic fiber, yarn, or fabric.”

Definition of “Producer:” The Act will largely apply to manufacturers and brand owners of covered products where those products are sold in the State of California; however, obligations under the Act are not strictly limited to those entities. Other potentially impacted groups would be those that import covered products into the state for sale or distribution, as well as distributors, retailers, and wholesalers who sell covered products in the state. Sellers selling only secondhand covered products and small businesses (those with less than $1,000,000 in annual aggregate global turnover) will be exempt.

Obligations for “Producers:” Producers of the covered products will be required to form a producer responsibility organization (PRO), which the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) will select. Applications must be submitted by January 1, 2026, and a PRO selected by March 1, 2026. If multiple PROs are formed, CalRecycle will determine which one can “most effectively implement” the requirements set forth in the Act. All producers of covered products must join an approved PRO by July 1, 2026. This is a process similar to the plastics EPR laws passed in California as well as several other states. It is crucial to stay up to date on the process of forming and choosing a PRO because this deadline may change if CalRecycle does not approve a PRO by March 1, 2026.

Requirements for the PRO:

• Conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the current state of the industry;
  • The evaluation must assess factors contributing to the presence of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other regulated chemicals, as well as the actions needed to avoid contamination related to recycling of the covered products.
• Approve collection sites for the Stewardship Program;
• Develop a plan for the collection, transportation, repair, sorting, recycling, and the safe and proper management of covered products in the state;
  • Timing: The PRO must complete the plan within 12 months of the effective date of the regulations adopted by CalRecycle as part of this Act, and the PRO must begin to implement the plan within three months of the approval. The PRO must fully implement the plan within 12 months of the approval.
  • Eco-Modulated Fee: The PRO will charge producers an annual fee per unit sold in California. The fee will reflect the sales volumes and use of programs implemented in this Act.
  • PFAS: The plan will examine the actions needed to avoid PFAS and other regulated chemical contamination in the recycling process and identify the end markets available for recycled material that cannot be remanufactured into textiles or textile articles in California.
  • Performance Standards: The plan will set “quantifiable” five-year and annual performance standards and metrics that producers will be required to meet.
• Review the PRO plan every five years;
• Pay all administrative and operational costs associated with establishing and implementing the program in a way that distributes the program’s costs among participating producers reflecting sales volumes and the eco-modulated fee criteria;
• Keep sufficient records, as the department may audit the PRO or individual producers annually;
• Publish an annual report including the PRO’s costs, an updated list of participating producers, a list of the PRO’s collection sites, and various other information detailing the work done by the PRO over the year.

Requirements for Producers:

• After a PRO is selected, register with the PRO by the deadline. Note that CalRecycle will post the list of compliant producers on its website;
• Producers of covered products will have to pay an annual eco-modulated fee to the PRO;
• Producers of covered products must achieve the five-year and annual performance standards set forth in the PRO plan;
• After March 1, 2032, producers of covered products must achieve the performance standards adopted by CalRecycle;
• After CalRecycle approves the PRO plan, a retailer, importer, distributor, or online marketplace shall not sell, distribute, offer for sale, or import a covered product in or into the state for sale in the state unless the producer of the covered product is listed as in compliance pursuant to this section for that brand and covered product; and,
• Producers will also need to keep records for submittal to the PRO.

Requirements for CalRecycle:

• CalRecycle must adopt regulations to implement this Act with an effective date of no earlier than July 1, 2028. The regulations aim to encourage recycling that minimizes the generation of hazardous waste, greenhouse gases, environmental impacts, environmental justice impacts, and public health impacts.
  • Within 12 months of the effective date of these regulations, the department shall post a list of producers that comply with this chapter on its website.
• After March 1, 2032, the department may establish performance standards and the dates by which they must be achieved.

Penalty Provision

Penalties for anyone violating of any provision of the Act are set at a cap of $10,000 a day, with an increase to $50,000 a day if the violation is intentional or knowing. CalRecycle will establish an informal hearing process to assess penalties. All penalties collected from these violations will be deposited into a fund created by this Act called the Textile Stewardship Recovery Penalty Fund. CalRecycle will use money from that fund for activities related to the collection and recycling of covered products, grants for related purposes, and the administration and enforcement of this Act.

Conclusion

California’s Responsible Textiles Recovery Act of 2024 is an important new EPR law for those in the apparel and textile industry conducting business in California. This is a rapidly evolving area that will have significant impacts over the coming months. It is important to stay updated on PRO progress so that producers can register with an approved PRO promptly and have a voice in the evaluation and planning required under the Act.