Arrow Award Winners

Arrow Awards

Overview

The California Product Stewardship Council recognizes California businesses for outstanding leadership, innovation and collaborations in product stewardship and green design. The Arrow Awards recognize innovative product stewardship programs, outstanding associations in product stewardship and serve to inspire organizations to integrate the principles of product stewardship.

Congratulations to the 2026 Arrow Award winners!

For nearly two decades, the Arrow Awards have spotlighted pioneering organizations that started with hyper-local initiatives and grew into global leaders. This year’s awardees build on that legacy, proving that strong community ties and local engagement are the foundation for scalable, real-world solutions.

What do beer and dish soap have in common? Both product types demonstrate how California businesses are finding creative ways to keep valuable materials in use and eliminate waste. This year’s Arrow Award recipients represent innovative solutions that are helping transform some of California’s most challenging waste streams.

“For 17 years, CPSC has honored visionaries who refuse to accept waste as an inevitability," said Doug Kobold, Executive Director of CPSC. "At a time when communities across the country are struggling with complex waste streams like plastics and textiles, these winners prove that local engagement drives global impact. They aren't just adapting to the future of recycling - they are building it.”

San Diego Brewcycling Collaborative is the winner of the 2026 Green Arrow Award for system and design innovations. The Green Arrow Award is given to an organization demonstrating an innovative systems approach that removes or reduces toxic or other problematic attributes present in products. San Diego Brewcycling Collaborative demonstrates an innovative approach of recycling a tricky urban plastic stream. Local beer production materials, such as grain bags and plastic can toppers, are hard-to-recycle. Their “Plastic to Pavement” program has led to over forty can topper collection centers throughout the city of San Diego. The Brewcycling Collaborative stays committed to sustainability and offers solutions to ensure recyclability.

Tony Hackett is the winner of the 2026 Bow & Arrow Award for coalition building and creative partnerships. Bow & Arrow Award recipients demonstrate synergistic relationships between producers, distributors, retailers, public agencies, and other stakeholders. Through his outreach, education, and advocacy work, Tony Hackett, a Policy Associate from Californians Against Waste, represents Bow-and-Arrow principles through his advocacy for vape waste – an emerging hazardous waste stream. CPSC is proud to be a co-sponsor with Californians Against Waste and two other organizations for AB 762, a bill that aims to ban the sale of single use vaping devices.

Refill Mercantile is the winner of the 2026 Infinity Arrow Award for service and take-back. The Infinity Award is given to an organization to recognize efforts to initiate an outstanding Take Back program for one or more products as an additional convenience and service to their customers. Refill Mercantile accomplishes this by prioritizing a refill-first model that provides reusable containers for household and personal care products. Refill Mercantile partners with bulk suppliers to create closed-loop systems, including a shaving blade take-back program. By carefully curating clean, long-lasting, reusable, plastic-free alternatives, their business emphasizes responsible manufacturing that prevents waste.

Project Ropa is the recipient of the 2026 Golden Arrow Award for overall excellence in product stewardship. The Golden Arrow Award is given to an organization that exemplifies all the characteristics of the Green, Bow & Arrow, and Infinity Awards. Project Ropa is a resource to their community by collecting, sorting, and redistributing donated clothing and essential textiles to individuals and families experiencing housing instability and poverty. Project Ropa emphasizes the importance of fostering relationships between community members while diverting textiles from the landfill. For instance, in 2025 alone, Project Ropa distributed 124,000 items to those in need, giving 62 tons of textiles a new life in their communities.

CPSC also wants to express gratitude to Fibershed as the 2026 Sponsor of the Year. Fibershed is a non-profit organization developing regional fiber systems that expand opportunities to implement climate beneficial agriculture, rebuild regional manufacturing, and educate the public about the benefits of soil-to-soil fiber and dye systems. For our Merced County textile reuse pilot project, CPSC collaborated with Fibershed to host an educational event at a local cotton farm highlighting the cotton production process and cotton recycling/reuse.

CPSC has recognized John Davis from the Mojave Desert & Mountain Recycling Authority as our 2026 Associate of the Year. John Davis has played a key role in advancing education and advocacy, fostering collaboration, and supporting sustainable waste management throughout the region. CPSC is proud to work with John Davis on a solar panel pilot project that is focused on testing solar panel glass recycling and incorporating solar panel reuse training in educational institutions.