California’s Responsible Textile Recovery Act Registration Deadline Less than a Month Away
Producers covered under California’s Responsible Textile Recovery Act of 2024 (SB 707, RTRA, or Act) have until July 1, 2026, to register with Landbell USA, the producer responsibility organization (PRO) appointed by the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) to manage the extended producer responsibility (EPR) program established under the Act.
As we wrote before, the RTRA establishes the nation’s first EPR scheme for textiles and apparel. The Act applies to producers with $1,000,000 in aggregate global turnover and covers a broad range of products, including adult and children’s clothing, shoes, swimwear, uniforms, blankets, curtains, fabric window coverings, towels, linens, and pillows. Its goal is to “establish a statewide EPR program for apparel and textiles that emphasizes repair and reuse, and minimizes generation of hazardous waste, generation of greenhouse gases, environmental impacts, environmental justice impacts, and public health impacts.” On February 27, 2026, CalRecycle approved Landbell USA, part of the Landbell Group of Germany, as the PRO for managing textile producer obligations.
CalRecycle has not yet introduced implementing regulations (which are due by July 1, 2028), and is holding workshops to solicit stakeholder feedback. The next public workshop will be held on August 13, 2026, and will give interested parties the opportunity to ask questions about regulation concepts and requirements, specifically including regulatory definitions, online marketplaces, and PRO submittals. We will report on the regulations rulemaking process as it is made public.
Other RTRA deadlines producers may wish to track include the following:
- March 1, 2027: Initial needs assessment submitted by the PRO to CalRecycle
- July 1, 2029: PRO must submit its official EPR Plan to CalRecycle
- July 1, 2030: Statewide implementation begins
Although the July 1, 2026 registration deadline appears firm, what will happen after the registration, and whether the other deadlines will stick, is an open question at the moment. In March, the American Apparel & Footwear Association Inc. (AAFA), which represents more than 1,100 apparel and footwear brands, retailers, and manufacturers, filed a lawsuit in California state court against CalRecycle and Landbell USA, seeking to vacate the agency’s approval of Landbell USA as the PRO under SB 707. AAFA’s petition alleges statutory and procedural violations, including that Landbell USA was not formed by “producers” and is not a nonprofit, both of which AAFA claims are required by the RTRA. In April, AAFA filed a motion for a preliminary injunction (PI), asking the court to prevent CalRecycle and Landbell USA from taking any further steps to implement the Act while the legal challenge runs its course. A hearing on the PI motion was set for August 7, 2026 (after the July 1 registration deadline), a date that remains firm as the court denied AAFA’s request to move the hearing to a date in May.
Textile producers, covered under the RTRA, must also stay abreast of ongoing state packaging EPR laws, where, again, new deadlines and requirements are coming up quickly.