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What a year it’s been for CAW and recycling in California! We have a lot to be proud of and we’ve greatly appreciated the opportunity to work with such a wide array of recycling adocates and stakeholders.

The opportunities of a pro-recycling Governor, a new Director at CalRecycle, and the ability to demonstrate the jobs and economic benefit of recycling have led to an unprecedented level of policy and program success and new partnerships for Californians Against Waste:

•    Governor Brown signed all four CAW-sponsored bills, one of which establishes the most ambitious recycling goal in the nation for California.  AB 341 (Chesbro) sets a 75 percent recycling goal for California by 2020. The measure requires every commercial business, institution and apartment building to implement recycling programs by July 2012 and creates a new waste reduction blueprint for the state.
•    AB 1149 (Gordon and Wieckowski) helps to develop domestic markets for recycled plastics by providing $20 million in market-based incentives to in-state processors and manufacturers of recycled plastic.
•    Additionally, SB 567 (DeSaulnier) ensures truth in environmental advertising by expanding the scope of existing limitations on misleading labeling from bags and food packaging to all plastic products, while AB 525 (Gordon) extends CalRecycle's successful Rubberized Asphalt Concrete tire recycling program to support viable markets for recycled tires.
•    CAW successfully initiated enforcement campaigns to 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 helped expose the plastic industry’s misleading campaign to fabricate benefits of plastic bags in the state’s education curriculum and scare consumers away from reusable bags.
•    CAW helped block a campaign to falsely advertise the recyclability of polystyrene.  
•    CAW has been working with dozens of cities and counties across the state to enact phase-out of problem plastic bags and other single-use disposable plastics.
•    CAW won its case before the California Supreme Court defending the rights of local governments to enact ordinances phasing out costly single use plastic bags.
•    CAW initiated market-based incentives have substantially increased the market capacity and jobs for closing the loop on PET plastic recycling in California.

These are just a few of the ‘Headline’ accomplishments—there are more.  And we could not have achieved these successes without the input and contributions from supporters like you.Thank you!

I hope you will take a look at what we’ve accomplished together for recycling in California and consider making a year-end contribution to support our work.

With your help, CAW has created a "recycling revolution" here in California – a revolution to conserve resources and protect public health and the environment.  At the same time, we are building a successful and sustainable Recycling Economy in California, that provides both economic value and jobs at a time when we desperately need both.

•    Almost all Californians will now have access to convenient curbside pick-up of recyclables!
•    Under the Bottle Bill that you’ve helped us protect and expand, Californians annually recycle more than 17 billion beverage containers—double the national average.  
•    Through our collective efforts, the average California household has reduced its weekly trash output from more than 57 pounds per week in 1989 to less than 26 pounds today—keeping over half a billion tons of trash out of landfills and incinerators.
•    These policies have also helped to create over 125,000 jobs in the state and a recent report found that setting a national goal of recycling 75% of our waste (similar to the goal CAW helped set in California) would create over a million more jobs.

We should all take great pride in these successes, but there’s still so much more that can and must be done to reduce waste and increase recycling in our state. California is still disposing of 30 million tons of solid waste, including: 465,000 tons of recyclable glass, 1.2 million tons of recyclable metals, and 4.8 million tons of recyclable paper. By just cutting this waste in half, we can save 28.8 million trees, conserve 595,000 BTUs of energy and reduce GHG emissions by 188,000 metric tons!

Please take a moment right now, and renew your generous support by mail or online. Your online contributions to support our research and education work are tax-deductible. If you need us to prepare an invoice for your contribution, please let us know.

With your help, we can build on the momentum begun this year and continue our efforts to build a recycling economy in California.  Thank you once again for your support of CAW.

Wishing you Happy Holidays and a successful and Happy New Year!

Sincerely,

Mark Murray
Executive Director

P.S. Please feel free to send me an e-mail to let me know your issues and priorities for the coming year.