The Overview

If you replace carpet in your home or business, California now has updated rules governing how that old carpet gets collected, recycled, and reported. California's Assembly Bill 904, titled "Carpet recycling," updates the state's existing carpet stewardship and producer responsibility programs, and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed it Sept. 27. ​

Carpet has long been one of the harder materials to keep out of landfills: it is bulky, made from mixed materials, and difficult to process, and estimates have put the share of U.S. carpet that ends up landfilled as high as 90 percent. The law requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to adopt its implementing regulations no later than Jan. 1, 2029.

What the Law Does

The law rewrites several pieces of California's carpet recycling framework inside the California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, with these key changes:

  • Governing boards. Both the existing carpet stewardship organization and the successor producer responsibility organization must create 14-member voting governing boards.
  • Drop-off access. Californians can drop off postconsumer carpet for free at collection sites open on a set schedule, including carpet recycling centers, municipal facilities, and retailers.
  • Apprenticeship funding. Producer responsibility plans must allocate $2,000,000 annually to labor-organization apprenticeship programs training carpet installers in recycling techniques.
  • Product labeling. The bill requires producer responsibility plans to explain how producers will put a visual mark on the back of each covered product, showing the producer's name, the date of manufacture, and the types of face fibers and backing materials.
  • Penalties. The department can impose penalties of up to $10,000 per day for violations, or $25,000 per day for intentional violations.

Legislative Status

Asm. Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-CA-4) sponsored the bill. An Assembly committee passed it 5 to 1 on April 29, 2025; a second Assembly committee passed it 12 to 2 on May 14; the full Assembly passed it 62 to 4 on May 19; and a Senate committee passed it 4 to 0 on June 16. The Senate passed the bill 39 to 0 on Aug. 31, and the Assembly concurred in Senate amendments the same day, 72 to 2.

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