If you package food, beverages, or consumer goods, you’ve probably had the debate: should this product be compostable or recyclable? The honest answer is that it depends less on sustainability and more on which claim you can actually defend on a label without breaking state law.
States have moved fast on packaging rules over the past few years, and compostable and recyclable claims are now governed by very different legal frameworks. This guide breaks down what each claim requires, which one is easier to stay compliant with across multiple states, and the mistakes that get brands in trouble.
Quick Answer
Neither claim is automatically ‘safer’ nationwide, but recyclable claims currently carry more legal risk because states are actively restricting when you can use the chasing-arrows symbol. Compostable claims have a higher compliance bar to clear (third-party certification, strict labeling), but once you clear it, the claim is more stable and less likely to be challenged later.
What Recyclable Claims Require
Recyclability claims are regulated under state ‘truth in labeling’ and environmental marketing laws, and California’s SB 343 is the one every brand needs to know. SB 343 restricts use of the chasing-arrows recycling symbol to materials that are genuinely collected, sorted, and recycled in practice across California, based on data compiled by CalRecycle, rather than materials that are merely technically recyclable somewhere in the country. The law applies to packaging manufactured after October 4, 2026, so packaging made before that date isn’t affected even if sold later.
Worth noting: in July 2026 a federal court issued a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of SB 343 on First Amendment grounds, so the rule is currently on hold pending further litigation. That doesn’t mean recyclable claims are risk-free in the meantime — several other states have their own deceptive-claims statutes modeled on the FTC’s Green Guides, and CalRecycle’s underlying recyclability data will likely resurface in some form once the legal challenge resolves.
The practical standard most state laws converge on, SB 343 or not, is that a material has to be ‘regularly collected, sorted, sold, or reused’ through real municipal programs — not just theoretically recyclable in a lab sense. If your packaging is recyclable in only a handful of markets, broad recyclable labeling is a liability.
What Compostable Claims Require
Compostable labeling laws are more prescriptive and vary more by state, but a common structure has emerged: products must be certified to ASTM D6400 (for compostable plastics and films) or ASTM D6868 (for fiber or paper products with plastic coatings or linings), typically certified by an accredited third-party program such as BPI.
Minnesota requires products labeled ‘compostable’ and sold in the state to meet ASTM D6400/D6868 standards, and as of January 1, 2026, that certification must come from a nonprofit third party, with clear labeling that the product is intended for industrial or commercial composting, not backyard bins. Colorado has a similar ASTM-based standard and additionally requires visual cues, a certification logo, the word ‘compostable,’ and green coloring or tinting so compostable items are distinguishable at a glance from conventional plastic.
California’s AB 1201 goes further than any other state: compostable or home-compostable claims must also qualify as an allowable agricultural organic input under the USDA National Organic Program. That requirement was originally set to take effect January 1, 2026, but CalRecycle pushed the compliance deadline to June 30, 2027, in large part because USDA’s organic input standards haven’t caught up to cover most compostable plastics and coated fiber products — meaning most compostable packaging on the market today still can’t meet the full California bar.
PFAS Rules Cut Across Both Claims
A growing number of states — including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington — now ban intentionally added PFAS in food packaging, and this matters for both compostable and recyclable products. PFAS (used historically for grease and moisture resistance in molded fiber and coated paper) disqualifies a product from compostable certification in most programs and can also undermine recyclability if it contaminates paper recycling streams.
Maine’s PFAS rule for plant-fiber food packaging has a compliance date of May 25, 2026. If your compostable or fiber-based packaging hasn’t been verified PFAS-free by your supplier with documentation, that’s a bigger near-term risk in many states than getting the compostable or recyclable label itself wrong.
Which Claim Is Easier to Scale Across States
If you sell into multiple states, compostable claims are more work upfront (certification, testing, label design) but the resulting claim tends to travel better — ASTM D6400/D6868 certification is recognized as the baseline in most states that regulate compostable labeling at all. The exception is California, where AB 1201’s organic-input requirement is stricter than anywhere else, so don’t assume a BPI-certified product automatically clears California’s bar once that deadline lands.
Recyclable claims are cheaper to make on paper but harder to keep legally defensible over time, because recyclability is tied to local collection infrastructure that changes and because states are increasingly restricting the chasing-arrows symbol to materials with real-world recycling access. A recyclable claim that was fine in 2023 can become a liability as more states adopt SB 343-style restrictions, even with that law itself currently enjoined.
Extended producer responsibility (EPR) packaging laws add a second layer regardless of which claim you use. Seven states — California, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington — now have comprehensive EPR programs that require producers to report packaging data and pay fees scaled to recyclability or compostability, with eco-modulated fee schedules that financially reward packaging that’s actually recyclable or compostable in practice, not just labeled that way.
Tips / Common Mistakes
Don’t label packaging ‘compostable’ based on a supplier’s marketing claim alone — ask for the actual ASTM D6400/D6868 certification number and verify it with the certifying body (BPI’s directory is the most common one).
Don’t assume an ASTM-certified compostable product can be sold with that label in California without checking AB 1201’s timeline — the June 30, 2027 deadline is real even though it was pushed back once already.
Don’t use the recycling chasing-arrows symbol on packaging just because the material is technically recyclable somewhere; check whether it’s actually collected in the markets where you sell, since that’s the standard regulators are converging on even while SB 343 litigation plays out.
Don’t ignore PFAS testing on fiber-based packaging, even if you’re not making a compostable claim — PFAS bans apply to food packaging broadly in many states, independent of the compostable or recyclable label.
Don’t treat EPR compliance as separate from your labeling strategy — in states with EPR programs, the fees you pay are often directly tied to whether your packaging qualifies as recyclable or compostable, so the label decision has a real cost impact beyond legal exposure.
Explore more: More packaging compliance guides.
Compostable vs. recyclable packaging law FAQs
Is compostable packaging legal in every state?
Compostable packaging itself isn’t restricted nationwide, but making a ‘compostable’ claim on the label is regulated in a growing number of states (Minnesota, Colorado, Washington, and California among them), typically requiring ASTM D6400 or D6868 certification and specific labeling language.
Why is California’s recyclable labeling law on hold?
A federal court issued a preliminary injunction against California’s SB 343 in July 2026, blocking enforcement while a legal challenge over commercial-speech restrictions proceeds. The underlying recyclability standards may return in some form once the litigation resolves, so it’s worth monitoring rather than ignoring.
Can packaging be both compostable and recyclable?
In practice, rarely for the same component — compostable materials are generally not accepted in standard recycling streams and vice versa. Mixed claims on one package (e.g., a compostable pouch with a recyclable label) create confusion and are a common source of greenwashing complaints, so most compliant packaging picks one path per material.
What’s the single biggest compliance risk for packaging claims right now?
For compostable packaging, it’s assuming a supplier’s certification covers every state you sell into, especially California’s stricter AB 1201 standard. For recyclable packaging, it’s using the chasing-arrows symbol on materials that aren’t actually collected and recycled in your sales markets.
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Photo: Meanwell Packaging / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.