Representatives of the plastics industry agree there are challenges in getting more plastics recycled.

“One of the reasons why the recycling rate [of plastic] is lower is because there's not an end market to actually send a lot of the materials to,” said Shannon Crawford, Director of State Government Affairs for the Plastics Industry Association, which has registered its opposition to both bills. “There needs to be an increased investment in infrastructure in the state and increased investment in market development.”

While the bill could encourage the development of a more robust market for recycled plastic, the details of implementing the bill would fall to CalRecycle, officially known as the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery.

That lack of clarity is one reason why the American Chemistry Council is opposed to the bill.

“We are not objecting to what they're trying to do in terms of getting more material out of landfill and into recycling and composting streams,” said Tim Shestek, senior director of state affairs for the Council. “We're opposed to the bill just because of so many open-ended, unanswered questions that are out there right now.”

Shestek pointed at a number of plastic products that would be hard to replace, including medical equipment, diapers, feminine hygiene products, and even ball point pens. He said that food safety was also a concern, if the right type of plastic can’t be used to package certain foods.

The American Chemistry Council hopes to work with legislators to refine the bill. “We're hoping to sit down between now and the end of the year to try to work something out that makes sense for recycling, for composting, for the environment, for manufacturers,” Shestek said.

Still, the time may be right in the court of public opinion. Support for reducing plastic waste is building, fueled by stark images of whales with bellies filled with plastic and mountains of plastic trash polluting poor communities in Asia.

Some enterprising companies are trying to cash in on the trend towards more sustainable packaging — a new startup called Loop plans to offer name brand products in specially designed refillable packaging. Häagen-Dazs, Pantene and Clorox are among the companies that have signed up to partner with Loop, which is offering to let you reserve a spot “in line” before the company has even launched.

In Europe, you can try water pouches made out of seaweed and soon bring empty bottles back to the Body Shop in exchange for store coupons. And in San Francisco, entertainment venues like The Midway and The Fillmore are offering concertgoers alternatives to plastic-bottled water.

The language of SB 54 and AB 1080 are essentially the same and were written in tandem to ease their parallel passage through both houses of the state Legislature. The bills now head to the Senate and Assembly floors for consideration.