Pilot Program Brings Soft Plastics Recycling to 1,000 Napa, CA Households

This summer, about 1,000 households across the city of Napa and south Napa County have received a yellow crate to place next to their normal bins, in a test to see whether one of the nation’s biggest recycling blind spots can finally be addressed. Through November, Napa Recycling & Waste Services and Napa County Recycling & Waste Services are running a soft plastics recycling pilot program. Napa is one of five communities in California selected by the Circular Action Alliance for the pilot, the producer responsibility organization created by passage of Senate Bill 54, the state’s 2022 extended producer responsibility law for packaging. Under SB 54, all packaging sold in California must eventually be recyclable, compostable or reusable, with a 65% recycling rate target by 2032. Flexible film is the biggest problem child. Chip bags, produce pouches and shrink wrap make up the state’s single largest packaging category, and currently, almost none of it has anywhere to go once collected.

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