In California, a bill (CA AB 2253) to restrict the methods manufacturers may use to make recycled content claims was introduced. AB 2253 amends an existing law that regulates recycled content claims for food packaging and would require that any recycled content claims for a consumer product be based on the actual physical recycled content in the product. The bill would prohibit the use of credit-based mass balance accounting, including free allocation, “book-and-claim” accounting, or similar approaches.   

Mass Balance is a globally used standard created and third-party certified by ISCC. A mass balance calculation of post-consumer recycled (PCR) content tracks the total amount of recycled material entering a production system and allocates it proportionally across finished products based on overall input and output volumes. Mass balance is commonly used to track and measure plastic building block materials made from advanced recycling processes that are mixed with other materials to create new products. 

AB 2253 is a clear negative reaction to legislation proposed at the federal level, namely the Recycled Materials Attribution Act (RMMA), which ISPA supports. If enacted, AB 2253 would make it difficult for manufacturers to make recycled content claims with materials derived from advanced recycling technologies.