What is California SB 343 and Why It Matters Outside of California?

Recyclability Laws and Materials

It would be difficult to find a person who doesn’t recognize this image or a version of it.

Unfortunately, the purpose of the original recycling images has been wildly misconstrued. The symbols do not declare recyclability but rather identify the material makeup of the item.

The lack of properly informing the public of the true purpose of these symbols proliferated the misuse of these chasing arrows. The visibility of the image advanced in popularity and the use of these chasing arrows on packaging and products was swiftly adopted to mean different things to different people or organizations.

Additionally, there are other resin codes to be considered as shown in this chart.

The cause of the misuse is in part due to the lack of standards. Although the FTC Green Guides offer federal guidance and governs environmental marketing claims nationally, each state can produce their own laws regulating forms of recyclability identification. These laws can require chasing arrows or prohibit chasing arrows. They can be required or prohibited on packaging labels, or on a physical product itself.

Images like these have evolved in the public eye mistakenly conveying some generalization of recycling conditions. The general public has come to accept that this chasing arrow symbol implies recyclability. Businesses exercise the use of these to promote their sustainable responsibilities. However, as time passed, environmentally concerned organizations began to question these practices and turned to their lawmakers. Hence California’s SB 343 law. This is about these chasing arrows with resin identification codes (RIC) appearing on items and labels.

The California Law

California SB 343 was signed into law in 2021, but its effects would play out in phases. The law is often called the “Truth in Recycling” or “Truth in Labeling” law. (CalRecycle Home Page) It aims to prohibit the use of labeling products as recyclable when they are not actually recycled in practice.

The key is “actually recycled” verses “technically recyclable”, meaning the item could be recycled under ideal conditions. Defining what items are actually recycled was a task assigned to the California  Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle). The directive was to study what materials are truly recycled in the state and publish their findings.

Although the bill was signed in 2021, final report was published in April 2025. That triggered the compliance timeline. The labeling restrictions now apply to products and packaging manufactured after October 4, 2026.

The law says that companies generally cannot use the chasing-arrows recycling symbol, the word “recyclable,” or similar claims on products and packaging unless the material meets specific criteria showing it is actually collected, sorted, and recycled at scale in California. (CalRecycle Home Page)

Confusing Regulations

In California a glass bottle, aluminum can, steel can, paper carton, or plastic package must all meet the state’s recyclability standards before recyclability claims or chasing arrows may be used.

Generally, states do not have separate recyclability laws for materials. Rather regulations are focused on whether a company can claim a package is:

• Recyclable
• Compostable
• Biodegradable
• Environmentally friendly

In practice, a clear glass jar or aluminum can is much less likely to encounter labeling challenges than:

• PVC packaging
• Multi-material blister packs
• Plastic-film structures
• Flexible laminates

Regardless of the material, regulations that vary from state to state will produce burdens for manufacturers, distributors and retailers.

To be clear, there is a distinction between the resin code and the chasing arrows. Originally, the chasing arrows, Mobius Loop, was created in 1970 as part of a design competition for the first Earth Day. Mobius Loop was to represent recycling, not materials. Recycling programs used the Mobius Loop during the 1970s and 1980s. There was no standardized national coding system.

In 1988 The Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) introduced the Resin Identification Code System and included the Mobius Loop in its symbol. The SPI took a popular image with nearly 20 years of association with Earth Day and applied it to their resin name and number. While this was the first widely adopted material-specific recycling symbol system in the USA, it initiated the most improper use of those chasing arrows, the Mobius Loop image.

Since 2013 ASTM (Advancing Standards Transforming Markets) recommends using a solid triangle rather than the traditional chasing-arrows symbol to reduce consumer confusion. The question becomes whether the general public will understand the differentiation, or will it increase confusion. A clear state of confusion is bound to increase based on a portion of CA SB 343 which indicates for packaging sold in California the use of a plain triangle may need to be used on non-recyclable plastics.

The Implications Extend Beyond California

A number of states are evaluating legislation similar to California’s. The focus is not on banning resin identification codes, but on preventing consumers from mistaking a resin code for a recyclability claim.

Historically, about 35–40 states enacted laws requiring plastic bottles and/or rigid plastic containers to carry a resin identification code (#1 PET, #2 HDPE, #5 PP, etc.). Many of these laws date back to the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Examples include:

• California – requires rigid plastic bottles and containers sold in the state to be labeled with a resin code.
• Washington – requires plastic bottles and rigid plastic containers to be labeled with the appropriate resin code.
• Texas – requires plastic bottles and rigid plastic containers to display the resin identification symbol.
• New Jersey – requires plastic bottles and containers sold in the state to bear a material code identifying the resin.
• Michigan – requires plastic products sold in the state to be labeled with a resin code.

SPI, ASTM, Mobius Loop, solid triangle – all floating through the industries at anyone’s discretion. Further compounding the problem across the 50 states of the USA is that each state has their own laws making it extremely complicated and expensive to trade between states.