AB 319 (Stone) - Connect the Cap

Summary: AB 319 would require that every plastic bottle sold in California has a cap that is connected to its bottle by 2020. By requiring connected caps, this bill would prevent bottle cap pollution in our environment, save bottle manufacturers money, and provide additonal material for recyclers to recover. Bottle caps are currently recovered at a low rate compared to bottles and are one of the top three items found in every large-scale beach clean-up in California. Once a part of our environment, bottle caps are mistaken for food by wildlife, contribute to local government clean-up costs, and eventually become part of the ever-increasing plastic pollution problem in our oceans.  

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Position & Status: CAW supports the bill. This bill is no longer active.

  • Introduced February 6th, 2017
  • Passed Assembly Natural Resources committee January 8, 2018
  • The bill was not brought up for a vote on the Assembly floor and is no longer an active bill.

More details: Californians consume an average of 11.5 billion plastic bottles every year. Despite California's high recycling rate for all beverage containers, most plastic bottle caps are not returned for recycling. They are lost due to their size and easily blown out of trash bins and landfills and into our waterways. On average, more than 5 billion plastic caps enter our natural environment every year. We have the solution: #ConnectTheCap!

Contact: Kelly McBee: (916) 443-5422

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Current Language, Analysis, and Votes

Support: 

  • Algalita Marine Research Foundation
  • Audubon California
  • Crystal Geyser
  • California League of Conservation Voters
  • California Product Stewardship Council
  • California Resource Recovery Association
  • Californians Against Waste
  • Carbon Lite Industries
  • City and County of San Francisco
  • City of Oceanside
  • Clean River Alliance
  • Clean Water Action
  • Defenders of Wildlife
  • East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice
  • Environment California
  • Heal the Bay
  • Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy
  • Nasa Services
  • National Parks Conservation Association
  • Northern California Recycling Association
  • Plastic Pollution Coalition
  • Save the Albatross Coalition
  • Save the Bay
  • Seventh Generation Advisors
  • StopWaste
  • Surfrider Foundation
  • The 5 Gyres Institute
  • The Watershed Project
  • Upstream Policy
  • Zero Waste USA
  • Zero Waste Youth