California Aims to Ban Recycling Symbols on Things That Aren't Recyclable - The New York Times

The triangular “chasing arrows” recycling symbol is everywhere: On disposable cups. On shower curtains. On children’s toys.
What a lot of shoppers might not know is that any product can display the sign, even if it isn’t recyclable. It’s false advertising, critics say, and as a result, countless tons of non-recyclable garbage are thrown in the recycling bin each year, choking the recycling system.
Late on Wednesday, California took steps toward becoming the first state to change that. A majority of the state’s assembly members voted to ban companies from using the arrows symbol unless they can prove the material is in fact recycled in most California communities, and is used to make new products.
“It’s a basic truth-in-advertising concept,” said California State Senator Ben Allen, a Democrat and the bill’s lead sponsor. “We have a lot of people who are dutifully putting materials into the recycling bins that have the recycling symbols on them, thinking that they’re going to be recycled, but actually, they’re heading straight to the landfill,” he said.
The measure, which late Wednesday received enough votes to pass the assembly, is expected to clear the State Senate later this week and be signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, is part of a nascent effort across the country to fix a recycling system that has long been broken.
Though materials like paper or metals are widely recycled, less than 10 percent of plastic consumed in the United States is recycled, according to the...

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