California's chasing arrows ban is blocked by a court. The EU rule that bans "eco-friendly" applies from 27 September 2026. What that leaves you able to print.
Three regimes, and all 3 moved this year. Taken from the published sources: a federal court blocked enforcement of California’s recycling label law on 14 July 2026, the EU rule that prohibits generic environmental claims applies from 27 September 2026, and the US Green Guides are still the 2012 version. Check the date on any advice you were given.
California: the ban exists and cannot currently be enforced
If you were told to strip the chasing arrows symbol off your artwork before 4 October 2026, that instruction is out of date.
CalRecycle, the agency that administers the law, states it on its own page: “On July 14, 2026, the federal court in California League of Food Producers v. Bonta (No. 3:26-CV-01675, California Southern District Court) issued a preliminary injunction. The injunction only blocks enforcement of SB 343.” The October date is still published on the same page. The law is there; enforcement is not.
What that means for a founder is narrow. Do not redraw artwork for a requirement that is currently unenforceable, and do not assume it is gone either, because the state is expected to appeal.
The EU rule that applies in September 2026
This is the one with a date you can act on, and it is close.
Directive (EU) 2024/825 sets it out in its own article: “By 27 March 2026, Member States shall adopt and publish the measures necessary to comply with this Directive… They shall apply those measures from 27 September 2026.” What it prohibits is making a generic environmental claim where you cannot demonstrate recognised excellent environmental performance relevant to the claim.
Generic means the words most packs use: environmentally friendly, eco-friendly, green, ecological. If any of those appear on a pack you sell in the EU, that wording needs either a substantiated specification beside it or removal.
The separate Green Claims Directive, the one the trade press covered for two years, is a different file and it has been stalled since June 2025. Do not wait for it.
United States: an old rulebook, actively enforced
The FTC Green Guides are still the 2012 version and the revision has been pending for years, which founders read as permission. It is not.
Three points from the same rulebook decide most packs. The pack itself counts as advertising, so a claim on the back panel is a claim. The claim is judged on the whole impression, including your product name and your images, not only on the sentence. And a disclaimer has to be unavoidable, which means small type at the bottom does not rescue a claim made large at the top.
United Kingdom: a code with teeth now
The Green Claims Code clarified supply chain responsibility in 2026, and the enforcement side changed with it: under the DMCC Act the Competition and Markets Authority now has direct penalty powers without going to court first.
There is also a cost line that is not a labelling rule at all. The Plastic Packaging Tax runs at 228,82 pounds per tonne from April 2026, which belongs in your material decision rather than in your artwork review.
What this leaves you able to print
| What you want to say | Where it is safe today | What it needs |
|---|---|---|
| “Recyclable” without qualification | Nowhere, reliably | Evidence for the market, and qualification where collection is limited |
| Chasing arrows symbol | California ban not enforceable now | A decision you can defend if the injunction is lifted |
| “Eco-friendly”, “green” | Not in the EU from 27 September 2026 | A specific, substantiated claim instead |
| A recycling label scheme mark | Where the scheme operates | Scheme rules and, in some schemes, a licence |
The first row is the one to sit with. Unqualified recyclability is the claim all three regimes are circling, and most packs make it by default.
Two things that get confused
The mobius loop and the resin identification code are different marks with different meanings, and they are routinely used as if they were interchangeable. One is a recyclability claim; the other identifies the plastic type.
There is also a gap in our own record we are not going to fill with a guess: the date on which the UK recyclability label becomes mandatory could not be confirmed. If a supplier gives you one, ask for the document.
What to do before your next print run
Three steps, and they take less time than the print run they protect.
- Read your current artwork for two words, recyclable and eco-friendly, and list every place they appear, front and back.
- Name the scheme behind every recycling symbol on the pack; a symbol nobody can name is a claim nobody can defend.
- Date the check and keep it with the artwork; MarkaWorks dates it so the next reviewer knows which version of these rules it was made against.
MarkaWorks runs that pass on the pack before artwork is approved, because a claim removed at artwork costs a sentence and a claim removed after a print run costs the run.
