Waste Management announced on Dec. 15 that its Sacramento facility will stop sorting milk and food cartons for recycling, citing contamination concerns from buyers and overseas regulators. That change drops access to carton recycling below the threshold in California’s Truth in Recycling law (SB 343), which could force removal of the recycling symbol. The move complicates compliance with the state’s single-use packaging law (SB 54) and follows controversies over exports of mixed paper to Malaysia and Vietnam.
California Could Lose Recycling Symbol On Milk Cartons After Waste Company Stops Sorting
Waste Management has halted carton sorting at its Sacramento facility, likely forcing California to strip the recycling symbol from milk and juice containers statewide.(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
California’s familiar milk and beverage cartons could lose the chasing-arrows recycling symbol after Waste Management, one of the nation’s largest waste haulers, told state officials it will stop sorting cartons for recycling at its Sacramento facility and instead send milk- and food-soiled cartons to landfill.
In a Dec. 15 letter, Marcus Nettz, Waste Management’s director of recycling for Northern California and Nevada, said buyers and overseas regulators have raised concerns that even small amounts of cartons mixed into paper shipments can contaminate valuable fiber and prompt importers to reject those loads. That operational change reduces the share of Californians with access to carton recycling below the threshold set by the state’s Truth in Recycling law (Senate Bill 343), which would require removal of the recycling symbol from affected products.
Why The Label Matters
The recycling stamp matters for brand owners and packaging makers as California implements its single-use packaging law, Senate Bill 54, which requires single-use packaging to be recyclable or compostable by 2032. If packaging cannot meet that standard, it may be restricted from sale or distribution in the state. Consumers also rely on the symbol as reassurance that packaging will not be landfilled or end up in oceans.
Industry, Regulators And Export Markets
CalRecycle, the state agency overseeing waste policy, acknowledged Waste Management’s change and updated guidance under SB 343 to reflect that recycling rates for carton material have fallen below the statutory threshold. The development is a setback for carton manufacturers and customers such as soup and juice producers.
The industry trade group, the National Carton Council, has argued that the Sacramento Recycling and Transfer Station combined cartons with mixed paper and exported the material to markets in Malaysia, Vietnam and elsewhere in Asia. Brendon Holland, the council’s spokesman, said Waste Management plans to sort cartons into a separate stream "once a local end market is available," calling the current adjustment temporary.
Export markets have tightened since 2022, when Malaysia and Vietnam banned imports of mixed paper bales after many shipments arrived contaminated with non-paper materials and plastics, including beverage cartons. Investigators from Last Beach Cleanup and the Basel Action Network say more than 117,000 tons—about 4,126 shipping containers—of mixed paper were exported from California to Malaysia between January and July of this year. Jan Dell of Last Beach Cleanup called the exports illegal; Waste Management says it holds Malaysian approvals for its exported material.
What This Reveals About Recyclability
"Recyclability isn't static; it depends on a complicated system of sorting, transportation, processing, and, ultimately, manufacturers buying the recycled material to make a new product," said Nick Lapis, director of advocacy for Californians Against Waste.
Beverage and food cartons are multilayered packages—paperboard bonded to thin layers of plastic and sometimes aluminum—to extend shelf life. That hybrid construction makes them valuable for manufacturers but difficult and costly to recycle. Municipal operators and processors say markets for those blended materials are limited and vulnerable to contamination issues.
Broader Context
California has some of the nation’s strictest waste laws. A 1989 law requires local jurisdictions to divert at least 50% of residential waste from landfills, with fines that can reach $10,000 a day for jurisdictions that fail to meet targets. Historically, exporters shipped much of the state’s recycling overseas, but import restrictions since 2018 have shifted export flows and sparked scrutiny about where and how exported waste is processed.
Waste Management’s Dec. 15 letter indicates growing resistance from end users and import markets to loads that include cartons. If more processors stop sorting cartons, the state may require manufacturers and retailers to remove recyclability claims, or to redesign packaging and support the creation of reliable local recycling markets.
Who’s involved: Waste Management (Marcus Nettz), CalRecycle, National Carton Council (Brendon Holland), Californians Against Waste (Nick Lapis), Last Beach Cleanup and the Basel Action Network (Jan Dell).
