Californians Against Waste has sponsored or helped craft all of the major recycling legislation that has passed in California over the years. Here is a sampling of that legislation.

• AB 2020, California's Bottle Bill, (1986). This program provides consumers with a nickel refund value on virtually all beverage containers recycled.
• AB 939, California's Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, which requires cities and counties to reduce the amount of waste going to landfills by 25% in 1995 and 50% by the year 2000.
• Establishing the nation's first Recycled Newsprint Act, AB 1305, in 1989, which requires all newsprint publishers to use increasing levels of recycled content newsprint.
• SB 20 (Sher) passed in 2004, enacted the Electronic Waste Recycling Act, and the nation's first, and still most expansive, e-waste recycling law.
• AB 2901 (Pavley), the Cell Phone Recycling Act of 2004, requires a retailer selling a cell phone in the state take back used cell phones for reuse, recycling, or proper disposal.
• AB 1125 (Pavley) established the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Act in 2005 that requires retailers to take-back and recycle rechargeable batteries.
• In 2006, AB 2449 (Levine) was passed, requiring, for the first time, all CA grocery stores to take-back and recycle plastic grocery bags as well as provide consumers with a bag reuse opportunity.
• CAW helped pass groundbreaking legislation in AB 1109 (Huffman), which will increase energy efficiency and reduce hazardous materials in today's lighting.