Pharmaceutical Waste Stewardship Plans
A pharmaceutical waste stewardship plan outlines how a program operator intends to fulfill its responsibilities under the statute and regulations and communicates a course of action to the public.
The contact information for stewardship organizations can be found on the covered entities page.
CalRecycle Approved Stewardship Plans
Pharmaceutical waste stewardship plans approved by CalRecycle are posted below. Copies of documents not linked below may be requested via a Public Records Act Request.
A program operator must fully implement operation of its approved stewardship program no later than 270 days after CalRecycle approval of its stewardship plan. The 270 days were counted from the date of CalRecycle’s conditional approval of stewardship plans.
MED-Project USA
Deadline for full program implementation: September 5, 2022
- A Product Stewardship Plan for Covered Drugs from Households (March 9, 2022), including Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C, Appendix E, and Appendix K
- CalRecycle approval (June 23, 2022)
- Public Comments—CalRecycle received one public comment.
- NEW: Notification, regarding significant changes to stewardship plan regarding reasonable geographic spread (November 8, 2024) (under review)
- A Product Stewardship Plan for Covered Drugs from Households (September 14, 2021), including Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C, and Appendix E
- CalRecycle conditional approval (December 9, 2021)
- Letter of commitment to resubmit plan (January 7, 2022)
- CalRecycle plan completeness determination (October 11, 2021)
- Public Comments—CalRecycle received eight public comments.
- CalRecycle conditional approval (December 9, 2021)
The Drug Takeback Solutions Foundation
Deadline for full program implementation: November 13, 2022
- Stewardship Plan for Covered Drugs (October 15, 2022), including Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C, Appendix D, Appendix E, Appendix F, and Appendix G.
- CalRecycle approval (December 20, 2022)
- Public Comments—CalRecycle received no public comments.
- Stewardship Plan for Covered Drugs (May 17, 2022), including Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C, Appendix D, Appendix F, Appendix G, and Appendix E (May 20, 2022)
- CalRecycle determination maintaining conditional approval (August 16, 2022)
- Public Comments—CalRecycle received no public comments.
- Stewardship Plan for Covered Drugs (November 19, 2021), and an addendum (December 16, 2021)
- CalRecycle conditional approval (February 16, 2022)
- Letter of commitment to resubmit plan (March 15, 2022)
- CalRecycle plan completeness determination (December 20, 2021)
- Public Comments—CalRecycle received two public comments.
- CalRecycle conditional approval (February 16, 2022)
Stewardship Plan Process
- The program operator shall submit its proposed stewardship plan to the California State Board of Pharmacy (state board) for review, and to any other applicable state agencies with areas of authority relative to the stewardship plan, before submitting the plan to CalRecycle. The state board and other agencies have 90 days to review for compliance with laws and regulations related to the agency’s respective authority. The contact information for the state board and other agencies can be found on the Pharmaceutical Waste Stewardship page.
- On or before July 7, 2021, a program operator shall submit a stewardship plan to CalRecycle for approval. The duration of time the California State Board of Pharmacy takes to review a stewardship plan shall not count toward this deadline. CalRecycle will review submitted plan(s) and provide a completeness determination within 30 days. If a plan is complete, CalRecycle will approve, disapprove, or conditionally approve a plan within 90 days of receipt of a plan. Consultations with other state agencies can extend CalRecycle’s review deadlines.
- Covered entities must be subject to an approved stewardship plan by January 7, 2022
- For more information, please see the Law.
This page provides a brief overview, and is not intended to provide a comprehensive list of legal requirements. Please refer to statute and regulations for a complete list of requirements. Users are encouraged to seek the assistance of legal counsel to comply with applicable state law based on their pertinent facts and circumstances.