This is why we should never involve industry groups in writing legislation. They'll challenge it in the courts no matter what, so why water it down before passing the bill:

Since industry groups were part of the law’s creation, it’s ironic that they are now suing, says Judith Enck, a former EPA administrator who leads Beyond Plastics, an environmental advocacy group. “The industry negotiated this bill, and yet they’re trying to undercut it with this lawsuit,” she says. “There’s a big difference between filing a lawsuit and winning a lawsuit, and I would be surprised if they prevailed.”

I was wondering why environmental groups would be unhappy with this:

Meanwhile, a coalition of environmental groups, including the NRDC, is also challenging the law – but for different reasons. They say the state’s rules break the law by allowing recycling methods that create toxic waste, and by letting some plastics slip through the rules entirely by changing the definition of recycling.

“We need to make sure the recycling that happens under it is real and not imaginary and not greenwashing, and we need to make sure that all plastic products that were intended to be covered by the law are covered – and those are the loopholes that were created by the regulations that were finalized, and that’s why we’re suing now,” says Kar.

So many years to implement it. The chems companies could also have started producing replacements ages ago and still gotten money, but instead to the lazy/greedy route. No sympathy.

I wonder why those states that aren't California think they have standing to sue?

The group pushing for the legislation: Beyond Plastics. (No affiliation, just trying to spotlight the helpers.)

It's so great to see a US state approach EU levels of beneficial regulation. What did Californians do right? Did they primary progressive reps in a lot of districts?

I'm not in California, but here in Ontario at least, they've largely phased out single use shopping bags. However, the recyclers don't seem to want to deal with multi-use bags, which do eventually wear out. They just go straight to the landfill, while they are still willing to take the single-use ones. I get that less garbage volume in general is a good thing, but how could they not get this one thing right after the giant overhaul of supply chains and everything?