Is a false "recyclable" label illegal in California?
The Consumers Legal Remedies Act (Civil Code §1770) makes it unlawful to represent that a product has "characteristics, ingredients, uses, benefits, or quantities" it does not have. Telling a shopper a cup, a container or a wrapper is recyclable — with the word or the chasing-arrows symbol — when no recycling program in California will take it is exactly that kind of misrepresentation. Because it is a CLRA violation, the consumer can recover damages and attorneys' fees, and a court can order the label removed for every purchaser. We pair the CLRA with the two statutes below in nearly every recycling case we file.
What are California’s rules on environmental marketing?
Business & Professions Code §17580.5 makes it unlawful to make any untruthful, deceptive or misleading environmental marketing claim, and it adopts the Federal Trade Commission's Green Guides as the standard. Those guides, codified at 16 C.F.R. Part 260, were last revised in 2012 and remain the operative federal benchmark despite a review the FTC opened in 2022 — so a company cannot excuse a stale claim by pointing to unsettled federal policy.
What documentation must a company hand over?
The provision most companies overlook is Business & Professions Code §17580. Any business making an environmental marketing claim in California must keep written records in this state substantiating it: why it believes the claim is true, the significant adverse environmental impacts of producing, distributing, using and disposing of the product, the steps taken to reduce those impacts, and any permit violations connected to its production. The statute then requires that this documentation be furnished to any member of the public upon request. A claim a company cannot document is a claim it should not be making — and unlike most evidence in a consumer case, this material does not require a lawsuit to obtain.
Where does California’s recyclability labeling law stand?
California's truth-in-labeling law, SB 343 (Public Resources Code §42355.51), restricts the chasing-arrows symbol and the word "recyclable" to products and packaging actually collected and sorted by programs serving at least 60 percent of Californians, as measured by CalRecycle's material characterization study. Foam, most flexible plastic and many mixed-material packages do not qualify. The restrictions reach products manufactured on or after October 4, 2026.
- "Recyclable" and the chasing-arrows symbolUsed on foam, flexible plastic and mixed-material packaging that no California facility actually recycles.
- "Compostable" and "biodegradable"California bans "biodegradable" claims on plastic outright and requires certification for compostability.
- "Sustainable," "regenerative," "eco-friendly," "carbon neutral"Vague feel-good claims that a company's actual practices — water use, sourcing, emissions — contradict.
- "Non-toxic," "chemical-free," "PFAS-free"Health-and-environment claims the product's own test results disprove.
Our experience
Our attorneys have brought greenwashing class actions in San Diego Superior Court on behalf of California purchasers — challenging "recyclable" labeling on packaging that no recycling program in the state accepts, and "sustainable" and "regenerative" marketing that a company's own practices contradicted — under the False Advertising Law and Unfair Competition Law.
What can you recover in a greenwashing case?
It depends on which statute carries the claim, which is why we generally plead several together. The CLRA allows actual damages (with a $1,000 minimum on the total award in a class action), restitution, an injunction ordering the label changed, punitive damages in the right case, and — importantly — attorneys' fees to a prevailing consumer. The False Advertising Law and the Unfair Competition Law reach conduct the CLRA's enumerated list may not, but their remedies are limited to restitution and injunctive relief. Read more about how these statutes work together and how a CLRA claim works.
Deadlines differ too: three years for a CLRA claim under Civil Code §1783, four years for a UCL claim under Business & Professions Code §17208, and generally three years for a False Advertising Law claim under Code of Civil Procedure §338(a). Before a CLRA damages claim is filed, the company must receive written notice by certified mail and 30 days to correct the problem, under Civil Code §1782 — a claim for an injunction can be filed without waiting. We handle that notice for you.
Do you need to have been harmed to bring a claim?
You need to have bought the product. California requires a consumer plaintiff to have suffered an injury in fact and lost money or property because of the practice, which in a mislabeling case means paying for something the label misrepresented. You do not need to have been physically harmed, and you do not need to prove the company intended to deceive anyone — the standard is whether a reasonable consumer would likely be misled. Keep your receipts, the packaging, and photographs of the label as it appeared when you bought it. If the same label was sold to other Californians, the case is usually brought as a class action.
We are prepared to discuss your case and determine what legal action should be taken — whether it is an individual claim or a case on behalf of everyone affected. We offer free consultations and charge nothing upfront. Our office is in San Diego, and we routinely handle cases in all State and Federal Courts throughout California — wherever in the state you live or work.