California recycling-claim deadline arrives under an enforcement injunction

On October 2, 2026, Lathrop GPM analyzed California SB 343's October 4 compliance deadline for recyclability claims while noting that a July 14 preliminary injunction has paused state enforcement. The statute uses 60% collection and sorting thresholds for recyclability representations, but the injunction leaves the operative enforcement date uncertain while private claims under California's consumer statutes remain available. Packaging, retail and supplier counsel should therefore treat the pause as litigation uncertainty, not permission to rely on unsupported chasing-arrows symbols or recycled-content claims. The second-order risk is contractual: retailers facing consumer claims may seek substantiation records, warranties and indemnity from upstream suppliers even before the state resumes enforcement.