CalRecycle Approves Landbell USA as Textile Industry PRO
On February 27, 2026, the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) approved Landbell USA as the producer responsibility organization (PRO) for managing textile producer obligations under the nation’s first extended producer responsibility (EPR) program for textiles, the Responsible Textile Recovery Act, SB 707 (RTRA or SB 707). As we wrote previously, RTRA was enacted 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.” The law imposes detailed obligations on the PRO, including preparation of a statewide needs assessment to determine the necessary steps and investment needed for covered products, plus a complete plan for the collection, transportation, repair, sorting, recycling, and the safe and proper management of covered products. CalRecycle received applications from the Circular Textile Alliance and the Textile Renewal Alliance in addition to Landbell USA. Producers of covered apparel and textile articles must join Landbell USA by July 1, 2026.
According to its application, Landbell USA is part of the German-based Landbell Group, which describes itself as having “more than 30 years of experience and 42 PROs in 18 countries,” operating “one of the first textile PROs in the world, through its European Recycling Platform (ERP) Netherlands entity.” Landbell USA told CalRecycle that the message of its proposed program “is intentionally simple and positive—‘Mend it. Wear it. Pass it on’,” emphasizing that repair comes first, followed by reuse, and finally recycling, as the third step in the hierarchy, “when those first two options are not possible.” Of note, Landbell USA’s proposal contemplates the use of both mechanical and chemical recycling, with the former “directed to domestic hubs such as regenerative cotton spinning facilities” and the latter “deployed for blends and harder fractions under clear safety and yield obligations.” While advanced recycling is a controversial topic, SB 707 does not ban it, but requires that the PRO obtain approval for its use from CalRecycle as part of its “complete plan for the collection, transportation, repair, sorting, and recycling” of covered products.
In its application, Landbell USA emphasized its “best-in-class digital infrastructure,” meant to “connect[] CalRecycle, Landbell USA, obligated producers, and all participating collection, repair, reuse, and recycling networks.” The infrastructure is intended to enable “centralized producer registration and reporting, [and] real-time traceability from collection to final destination, eco-modulated fee calculations,” among other functions, thereby creating “a single transparent workflow.”
Textile producers are also subject to separate EPR obligations for the packaging they use in multiple states. Companies subject to both textile and packaging EPR schemes have to navigate two different sets of obligations and join and pay fees to two different PROs in California: Landbell USA and the Circular Action Alliance (CAA). (CAA is the approved packaging PRO not only in California, but in every other state with packaging EPR programs, including, most recently, on March 4, 2026, in Washington.)
RTRA requires covered producers to join the designated PRO by July 1, 2026. After that, the next step is an initial Needs Assessment, which Landbell USA must submit to CalRecycle by March 1, 2027. CalRecycle must adopt implementing regulations by July 1, 2028. The PRO must submit its official EPR Plan by July 1, 2029, and statewide implementation is slated to begin on January 1, 2030. However, because RTRA imposes costs and obligations on the PRO, textile producers can anticipate that fee obligations may kick in much earlier.