California recently became the first state to adopt an extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme for textiles by adopting Senate Bill 707, the Responsible Textile Recovery Act of 2024 (the RTRA or Act). Specific requirements will become effective in 2026. EPR is a regulatory approach that shifts the burden of recycling and reuse of products away from local governments and consumers to manufacturers for the entire lifecycle of a product. The EPR approach aims to reduce landfill waste, promote recycling and reuse, and encourage innovation in product design and disposal. While this policy concept is not new—EPR programs for products such as electronics, mattresses, carpeting, and packaging are already active in the U.S. and EU—no such scheme for textiles currently exists in either jurisdiction. That is now changing.

California’s RTRA is intended to “establish a statewide EPR program for apparel and textile articles that emphasizes repair and reuse, and minimizes generation of hazardous waste, generation of greenhouse gases, environmental impacts, environmental justice impacts, and public health impacts.” The Act applies to “any producer, regardless of whether that producer is domiciled in California, who sells, offers for sale, or distributes a covered product into the state.” Elements of the RTRA are similar to California’s EPR requirements for packaging, established in the state’s Plastic Pollution Prevention Packaging Producer Responsibility Act, SB 54.

Definitions

The RTRA provides for cascading responsibility, starting with the manufacturer of the covered products in the state. If the manufacturer is not in California, responsibility rolls down to the brand owner or licensee, and if neither is in the state, responsibility goes to the entity that imports the covered product into California. If there are no such entities in California, then responsibility for compliance with the RTRA goes to the distributor, retailer, or wholesaler who sells the product in or into California. Limited exemptions apply, including for sellers of second-hand products and those with “annual aggregate global turnover” of less than $1 million.

Covered products are defined broadly as “apparel” or “textile articles.” Apparel includes “clothing and accessory items intended for regular wear or formal occasions and outdoor activities.” Excluded items include personal protective equipment, reusable diapers, and sanitary products. Textile articles are “customarily used in households or businesses that are made entirely or primarily from a natural, artificial, or synthetic fiber, yarn, or fabric.” Single-use products, including paper towels, napkins, toilet paper, facial tissue, and wet or dry wipes, are not covered. Other limited exemptions also apply.

Obligations

The RTRA creates a number of obligations for producers of covered products and a producer responsibility organization (PRO), including, without limitation, the following:

• Producers of covered products must form a PRO, and the PRO must submit an application to California’s Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) by January 1, 2026. CalRecycle must approve a PRO by March 1, 2026. Producers of covered products must join the approved PRO by July 1, 2026. 
• Within 30 days after the effective date of the Act’s implementing regulations, individual producers or the PRO must provide to CalRecycle a list of brands of covered products that each producer sells, distributes, imports, or offers for sale in or into the state. 
• Within 12 months of the effective date of the Act’s implementing regulations, the PRO shall develop and submit to CalRecycle a complete plan for the collection, transportation, repair, sorting, recycling, and management of covered products in the state (the Plan).
• The Plan must be designed to accept all post-consumer covered clothing and textile articles and must satisfy a long list of detailed requirements. For example, the Plan must:
  • Set quantifiable five-year and annual performance standards that producers must meet; after March 1, 2032, the Plan must comply with performance standards adopted by CalRecycle. 
  • Explain how it will handle PFAS and other regulated chemicals, including actions and investments needed to avoid contamination in the recycling process and available end markets for recycled material that cannot be remanufactured into textile articles. 
  • Address how the PRO will minimize the negative environmental and human health impacts of all operations associated with the Plan, including impacts from collected covered products exported outside of California.
• A violation of any provision of the Act may lead to an administrative civil penalty, starting at $10,000, and $50,000 per day for intentional or knowing violations. In assessing penalties, CalRecycle is instructed to consider a list of enumerated factors, as well as “any other factor that justice may require.”

Implications

The RTRA is the first state EPR law governing textiles and apparel, but other states may well follow suit, including New York, which, in its 2023-2024 session, proposed Senate Bill S6654, a bill that would have imposed requirements on textile producers similar to the RTRA requirements. Apparel companies should also be mindful that they may be subject to separate EPR obligations for the packaging they use. Further, EPR requirements for textiles and apparel are expected to expand globally. Last year, the European Commission proposed an EPR scheme for producers of textiles that would, if enacted, apply throughout the EU. The proliferation of possible rules comes with expected inconsistencies in legal instruments that are likely to create complications and potential confusion for businesses and consumers alike. In the meantime, members of the textile and apparel supply chain operating in California should begin considering now how to manage upcoming EPR obligations that take effect next year.