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

2011-2012

• AB 341 (Chesbro) is a landmark recycling legislation that sets a 75 percent recycling goal for California by 2020—the most ambitious in the nation. Additionally, the measure requires every commercial business, institution and apartment building to implement recycling programs by July 2012.
• SB 567 (DeSaulnier)  expands truthful end-of-life labeling requirements for plastic bags and food containers to all plastic products.
• AB 1149 by Assembly Members Gordon and Wieckowski helps to  develop domestic markets for recycled plastics by providing market-based incentives to processors and manufacturers of recycled plastic.
• AB 525 (Gordon) extends CalRecycle's successful Rubberized Asphalt Concrete tire recycling program to support viable markets for recycled tires.
• The California Supreme Court ruled in favor of an appeal by CAW and the City of Manhattan Beach affirming the right of local governments to phase out single-use plastic grocery bags.
• CAW initiated several successful enforcement campaigns to identify and expose false and misleading environmental marketing claims. CAW assisted the CA Attorney General’s office in bringing a public legal challenge against product makers for using false and misleading claims regarding bioplastics.
• CAW is countering the plastic industry’s misleading campaign to tout the benefits of plastic bags in children’s textbooks and scare consumers away from reusable bags.
• CAW helped passed 9 local bag ordinances this year and we are currently working with dozens of other cities and counties to introduce and enact local plastic bag bans.
• CAW successfully kept incinerators from being exempted from California's greenhouse gas regulations.
• With strong support from CAW, California implemented the strongest landfill regulations in the country to reduce greenhouse gases and other pollution from landfills.

2009-2010

• The Carpet Stewardship Act of 2010, AB 2398 by Assembly Member John Perez, establishes the nation's first comprehensive and industry-financed carpet recycling program.
• CAW-sponsored AB 1343 (Huffman), the Paint Stewardship Act of 2010, will require manufacturers to operate and finance a recycling program for used paint.

Older accomplishments

• CAW helped pass groundbreaking legislation in 2007 with AB 1109 (Huffman), which will increase energy efficiency and reduce hazardous materials in today's lighting.
• 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.
• AB 1125 (Pavley) established the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Act in 2005 that requires retailers to take-back and recycle rechargeable batteries.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• AB 2020, California's Bottle Bill of 1986, provides consumers with a nickel refund value on virtually all beverage containers recycled.