Coalition Secures Preliminary Injunction in Constitutional Challenge
SACRAMENTO, Calif., July 15, 2026— A federal judge has blocked California from enforcing SB 343 (Allen), granting a preliminary injunction to a coalition of 21 organizations challenging the law’s restrictions on truthful recycling labels and information.
Senior U.S. District Judge William Q. Hayes of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California found that the coalition had demonstrated it is likely to prevail on its First Amendment challenge to SB 343. The Court also found that several of the law’s recycling-labeling standards are likely unconstitutionally vague because businesses cannot reasonably determine whether their products and packaging comply.
The Court further found that the state had not demonstrated that SB 343 would materially improve recycling rates or reduce consumer confusion, and that the law’s broad restrictions on qualified recycling information were more extensive than necessary to advance those goals. Effective immediately, California is prohibited from enforcing SB 343 until further order from the Court.
Enacted in 2021, SB 343 restricts when businesses may use recycling symbols, instructions and other recyclability claims on products and packaging. The law requires packaging to satisfy statewide collection, sorting, and processing standards before it can be labeled recyclable, even when the packaging is accepted by recycling programs in parts of California. The coalition has argued that those standards do not reflect real-world recycling systems and would force businesses to remove accurate recycling information from packaging.
“Californians for Affordable Packaging and the petitioner group will continue to press the case that California can strengthen recycling without censoring truthful information on packaging and without adding unnecessary and significant costs for California families and businesses,” Californians for Affordable Packaging said in a statement.
“Yesterday’s ruling is a significant win, not just for our members, but for every business that wants to give consumers accurate information about the products they buy,” said Julie Landry, Vice President of Government Affairs at the American Forest & Paper Association. “Paper-based packaging is among the most recyclable material in the country, and our members should be able to say so truthfully. SB 343 would have forced manufacturers to strip accurate recycling information off packaging that is, in fact, recyclable – not because the claims were false, but because the law’s own standards were too vague to comply with. The Court recognized what we’ve said from the beginning: California cannot fix consumer confusion by restricting truthful speech.”
Plaintiffs include the California Restaurant Association, Dairy Institute of California, California Grocers Association, Pet Food Institute, SNAC International, Californians for Affordable Packaging, California League of Food Producers, Flexible Packaging Association, the Print Creative Alliance, Grower-Shipper Association of Central California, California Table Grape Commission, California Strawberry Commission, California Apple Commission, California Blueberry Commission, Olive Oil Commission of California, California Walnut Commission, American Forest & Paper Association and the Western Growers Association.
Media Contact:
William Valentine
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