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.
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.
MED-Project is the only stewardship organization operating a covered drug stewardship program in California.
MED-Project USA
To contact MED-Project, visit MED-Project.org.
- 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.
- Notification of significant changes to stewardship plan regarding reasonable geographic spread (March 28, 2025)
- CalRecycle determination (July 7, 2025)
- Public comments – CalRecycle received one public comment.
CalRecycle Previously Approved Stewardship Plans
The Drug Takeback Solutions Foundation
The Drug Takeback Solutions Foundation (Foundation) was a program operator with an approved stewardship plan for covered drugs from February 16, 2022, through June 30, 2026. Foundation terminated its covered drugs stewardship plan on June 30, 2026.
- 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 Process
- Covered entities must be subject to an approved stewardship plan. For more information, see the Covered Entities page.
- A proposed stewardship plan must be submitted 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.
- 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.
- For more information about stewardship plan requirements, 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.